Fins and Feet
by Yen mi Eruion
Summary: In this fantastic fairy tale, Disney's classic Cinderella takes a new twist with the Little Mermaid. This time, Ariel's laid-back sister, Andrina, takes center stage as she falls for a charming human prince. Can she win his heart before the clock strikes? A combination of Cinderellas 1 and 3 and Little Mermaids 1 and 3, this fishy fantasy is sure to knock your slippers off.
1. Chapter One

_**One**_

By the time King Triton had rounded up all seven of his daughters for questioning, it became obvious who the members of the guilty party were: Ariel, Arista, and Andrina had their hands behind their backs, and were looking rather sheepish.

Triton made a gesture at the mess before them. "Girls, care to explain?"

Never one to refrain from reply, Arista glanced up. "We were… playing hide-and-seek?"

Triton gave them the One-Eyebrow-Raise. "Is that a question?"

"Well, it was more like hide-and-seek-tag," explained Ariel.

"Andrina and I were under one of the beds," put in Arista, "and Ariel was over by the window—"

"—and then I came around and tipped it over," added Ariel, "and we sort of started making a whirlpool—" She swung her arms about to demonstrate.

While these two gave their testimony, Andrina kept her mouth shut. The younger ones had always been the more rambunctious of the sisters; it was usually they who got into the most sticky situations.

Once the mer-king had his fill of their excuses, he raised a hand. "That's enough, now. Just get everything picked up and taken care of before breakfast." With that, he took his leave of them and went back to his kingly duties.

Andrina shrugged. "Well, it was fun while it lasted." Turning, she began the task of flipping one of the beds back over.

"Well, you don't have to do much," Arista commented as she and Ariel hurriedly began setting the pillows and clothes back in order. "All you did was throw a pillow."

"Well, I have to live here, too, you know," said Andrina, smoothing the sheets and pillows in place. "I'd like to be able to get from the door to my bed without hitting the ceiling."

Once everything was set right again, the girls hurried to get downstairs for breakfast. Andrina hung back to let Aquata and Alana by, waiting until last to head out. Aquata's beloved Mr. Fuzzyfinkle had slipped behind her bed; Andrina set him to rights before heading out.

Downstairs, breakfast was a normal affair. King Triton and his daughters fell to with good appetite, then went out for their morning swim. As was her custom, Andrina floated along at the back, counting up heads. Up in front, Triton was discussing some important matters with Sebastian, his chief advisor; close behind, Attina was listening to them with good attention, as that sort of thing would be her responsibility someday. Aquata, Alana, and Arista were all quietly talking about some odd matters of their own, Adella was making eyes at several young mermen they passed, and Ariel was flitting back and forth, chasing after small bubbles, pieces of seaweed drifting by, and little seahorses that swam across the path. All seemed well in order, Andrina thought; it was looking to be an average day.

The kingdom of Atlantica was not significantly large, but it was well established. King Triton's prosperity was well renowned; merfolk from miles around came to the capital, seeking its economic opportune, entertainment, and pleasing atmosphere. While the rules could be mildly restrictive; sometimes outright ridiculous, as was one recently overturned law banning music from the city; the environment was neither hostile nor unreasonable, and most of the ridiculous laws could be safely ignored once at a distance.

The kingdom was located just off the coast of a similar kingdom on land, which no one knew much else about, since interaction with humans was not a common occurrence. Humans were well known for their tendencies to overreact at mermaid sightings, usually resulting in multiple disturbances in their attempts to find one, or frequently hunting said merfolk for sport.

Humans were one anomaly that brought conflicting opinions to the merpeople. Triton's laws banned any and all contact with them and anything they produced. Human pollution was common enough, being on the edge of a human kingdom with a fair-sized shipping passage; Triton forbade his people from going near ships of any sort, including sunken ships and their submerged goods. In their own homes, the merpeople usually did as they liked, but they never questioned the king's command in his presence, out of respect for the loss of the queen years before. Tragic accidents like that also gave good reason not to interact with these careless creatures.

"Come along, girls!" Triton called over his shoulder to his daughters. Andrina glanced up; she was lagging behind in keeping pace with Ariel, who had been distracted by a small school of bright minnows swirling past. Adella, too, had been slower than usual; she had just encountered their friend Steve, whom she was currently making eyes at.

"He'll catch on quicker if you actually talk to him," Andrina told her sister in passing, casting Adella a devious smirk. Adella glared, but said nothing, hurrying to catch up with the rest of them.

When they arrived back at the palace, Triton turned once again to them. "All right, girls, go have some fun today." Turning aside, he said, "Attina, you come with me; I'll need your help with a few things."

"Yes, Father," said Attina, following him back inside.

"Just like the good girl she is," said Andrina to no one in particular, tagging along after Arista, Ariel, and Aquata as they chased each other down the street.

Hovering on the edge of the action seemed to be Andrina's eternal position in life. While her sisters either conformed and found their places in society, like Attina, or rebelled against it, like Ariel often did, most of the time Andrina was content to act as a wallflower. It wasn't that she had no opinions of her own; it was more like no one asked about them or cared when she'd given them. Aquata called that sort of thing "insecurity"; Andrina called it be minding her own business and staying out of trouble. Her sarcastic streak had probably evolved as a method of reminding people she still existed rather than an actual desire to be funny. Still, it wasn't that bad, considering their current situation.

Farther up ahead, Alana stopped outside a jewelry store, gawking at a pair of pearl earrings. "Oh my gosh, I so need these right now!"

Andrina peered over her shoulder, giving the earrings a critical onceover. "Yeah, you totally need a pair of oyster spit wads dangling from your ears."

Alana rolled her eyes. "If I had those, I would so wear them to the Codfish Ball every single year."

"You said the same thing about that bracelet you got," commented Andrina, keeping an eye on Ariel and Arista, who were caught in a vicious tickling match. "And where is it now? At the bottom of your drawer."

"If you get them for me, I'll loan them to you once a week," Alana offered in a sing-song tone of voice.

Andrina grinned, shaking her head. "I'd never wear them."

"You never wear anything pretty!" protested Alana. "Come on, you have to at least once."

"It doesn't matter; I'm not getting them for you." Andrina drifted lazily on after her younger sisters. "If you want them, you get them, or you can ask Daddy for them." Ignoring Alana's sigh, she swam on, glancing around for the girls.

Rounding the corner of a sea-dog stand, she suddenly came upon Adella, leaning against the wall. Her back was turned, so she hadn't noticed her sister's presence yet. Andrina leaned closer, smothering a grin; across the street was a group of merboys playing catch with an old oyster shell. The nearest one, apparently having caught Adella's eye, waved to her. Adella returned the wave rather flauntingly, flashing the boy a dazzling smile.

As noiselessly as possible, Andrina slowly floated up behind Adella's head, then said in her ear, "Having fun?"

With a shriek, Adella spun around, almost smacking her sister in the face. The merboys chuckled, then went back to their game.

"Shut up! Not funny," Adella snapped.

"Made them laugh," said Andrina teasingly. "Me too, come to think of it. And hey," she added, pointing at the merboys, "you've got their attention now. You should say hi or something." She nudged her sister towards the boys.

"I've got this," hissed Adella, resisting. "I can handle this."

"Sure, you can," said Andrina, drifting up and over her sister's head. "You totally have it under control. I was just helping."

"Well, knock it off," countered Adella, turning her back to her. As she made off, Andrina heard her mutter, "You're obnoxious enough without that."

Andrina rolled her eyes, hugging her elbows. "Whatever."

Sister spats were perfectly normal, Andrina told herself sternly, focusing her attention back on finding the rest of her sisters. Aquata and Alana were across the street window shopping; Ariel and Arista had disappeared once again. Andrina reasoned that the most likely place they'd be was probably wherever there was some large disturbance going on; those two never ceased to draw attention.

After some thorough searching, Andrina found the girls out on a broad plateau on the edge of town, still wrapped up in their tickle-fight. It had now graduated to include several tall seaweeds, which they would tickle each other with, then hide and weave about in. Andrina noted with mild concern that they were now pushing the boundaries of their allowed freedoms; this was on the side closer to the shipping lanes used by humans.

"Hey, girls," she called at length, "unless you want to end up as someone's lunch, I suggest we head back in."

Ariel did a back flip; she was all over giggles. "Aw, come on, Andrina; it's not even high tide yet. The humans won't be coming in until later." With a mighty effort, she pulled up a strand of seaweed, twirling it around into a giant hoop, and then darting through it.

"What do they even do up there?" wondered Arista, snatching the end of the weed and flicking it at her sister. "All they do in the sea is float around on those giant whatever-you-call-them; do you ever wonder what it's for?"

Andrina shrugged. "Probably just some human thing, I guess. They're weird."

Ariel managed to steal the seaweed back from Arista. "Wouldn't it be cool to meet one up close for real, just to see what they're like?"

Arista squealed as Ariel started chasing her again. "As long as they never saw us, maybe!"

Andrina sucked on the inside of her cheek, glancing quickly up at the bright surface of the waves far above them. She'd never been to the surface in a long time; from her early childhood memories, it seemed like it had once been a nice place.

Arista came to a sudden stop, attempting to catch the seaweed again. Ariel crashed into her, and the two tumbled down to the ocean floor, breathless with giggles.

Andrina turned. "Yeah, I think it's time to head back now…" She stopped, staring at something glinting in the sand.

The girls hadn't noticed. Ariel untangled herself from Arista, tossing the weed into the current. "Race you back!" she called over her shoulder.

Arista took off after her, but Andrina hung back. Cautiously, she brushed away the sand for a closer look at the strange object. It was like a smooth, round pebble, but it was very shiny, so whatever it was, it probably hadn't been there long. She knew at once that it was most likely a human object, and that it ought to be left alone; still, the dappled light dancing over its surface intrigued her. Picking it up, she turned it over in her fingers. It was round, rather heavy, and had some sort of markings on the front of it.

"Hey!" Arista was shouting to her. "You coming?"

"Uh, yeah," Andrina answered, closing her fist tightly on the thing, hiding it from view. Then, as inconspicuously as possible, she hurried after her sisters.


	2. Chapter Two

_**Two**_

It was Aquata who proposed a game of Truth or Dare after lunch. The girls eagerly agreed, sitting huddled in a tight circle in their room. Andrina suggested they head to the main hall to play, but Adella gave her a skeptical look. "Really? We'll be in the way down there. Besides, Truth or Dare is like a slumber-party-type game; we can't do it out in the open."

Attina was able to join them after lunch, having finished her time with their father. "Just going over some document signing," she told them in answer to their questions.

"Sounds boring," sighed Andrina, lounging on her bed. Her hand brushed the cold surface of the mysterious object she'd picked up earlier, once again stirring her curiosity.

"Okay," announced Aquata importantly. "I came up with the idea, so I go first." After glancing around at them all, she began. "Alana, Truth or Dare?"

Alana pursed her lips, thinking. "Um… Dare."

"I dare you to stick your hand into that." Aquata pointed to the green, scummy garbage bin in the corner. "And pull out whatever is at the bottom."

Alana winced, horrified. But she was never one to shirk a dare; rising, she approached the can, closed her eyes, and reached in, pulling out a squishy clod of mixed hair. "Eeeew!" she shrieked, dropping it instantly. All the sisters echoed their sentiments.

That done, Alana darted back to the circle, shaking her hand off to rinse it clean. "Okay, that was disgusting. So, um… Arista. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," said Arista promptly.

"Are you and Tyler officially broken up?"

"Oh, come on!" Arista protested. "What does that have to do with anything? That was, like, one time!"

"You do have the worst reputation with boys," pointed out Adella. "I mean, all of us have dated at least once. Well, almost," she added, half glancing in Andrina's direction, "but you've had way more than any of us."

"That's still not fair!" huffed Arista, pouting.

"That's my question," said Alana primly. "Answer, or you get 'Dare' instead."

As the game rolled on, Andrina glanced around to make sure no one was looking. Tilting back her pillow, she began to examine her find. The thing was almost exactly like a smooth, shiny rock, except that it had one tiny bump on the outside edge. Andrina rubbed it with her thumb, unable to guess what it was for.

Abruptly, the thing sprang open, rather like a clam shell. Andrina started and dropped it, then stared in fascination at the mechanism. Inside the little clam was a smooth, flat disk of some hard substance. Under that was a tiny, straight, red arrow, which moved whenever she tilted the object. Many tiny lines were drawn around the edge, and four strange symbols were each set across from each other on the edge of the circle.

"What are you doing?"

Andrina slammed her pillow down, putting an elbow on it. Attina was staring at her quizzically. "Waiting for you. Is it my turn yet?" asked Andrina.

Attina gave her a suspicious look. "Truth or Dare?"

Andrina leaned across her pillow, shoving the trinket deeper underneath. "Um, Dare."

"I dare you," said Attina slowly, "to show me whatever it is you've got under there."

Andrina gave a guilty start. "What?"

"Show me whatever's under there," Attina repeated.

"It's nothing." Andrina's grip tightening on the strange little device. "It's only—ow!" With a tiny _click_ , the clam had snapped shut, pinching her hand.

The sisters stared at her as Attina snatched the pillow from her. The thing shone faintly in the afternoon light, casting glistening rays on the ceiling. They stared at it in silence.

Adella was the first to speak. "What… is… that?"

That seemed to break the spell. Andrina covered it with her hand. "It's nothing; I just found it, that's all. No biggie."

"Um, no," said Attina sternly. "This one's a biggie. Where did you get that?"

"I said I found it," insisted Andrina defensively. "It's just a rock or something."

"Rocks don't bite," countered Attina.

"It's not alive." Andrina held it up for all to see. "It just does this." She pressed the tiny bump again, opening the clam. The sisters bunched close together to stare at it. The spinning arrow was the most exciting feature.

"What is it?" asked Arista in awe.

"It looks like some human invention," mused Aquata, squinting at it.

"What do all those little marks mean?" wondered Ariel, daring to run a finger along its rim.

Attina was the only one who looked unimpressed. "You have to put it back. Daddy can't know about this. You have to get rid of it."

Andrina closed the little clam, making sure not to get pinched this time. "It's just a little toy thing, or whatever it is. It's not like it's dangerous."

"I don't care," said Attina firmly. "There is no way you're keeping it in here. You have to get rid of it. Just take it back where you found it and leave it there; we'll cover for you."

"What, _now_?" asked Andrina.

"Yes, now!" Attina began nudging her toward the window. "If you hurry, Daddy won't miss you; he'll never know about this. Now, go!"

"Okay, okay!" With a sigh, Andrina slid through the window, checked to make sure the coast was clear, then hurried off to fulfill her mission. Once she'd made it out of the palace, she glanced around, then began the journey towards the slow, steady rise that began the ascent to land.

By the time she got back to the spot where she'd found the strange device, Andrina was beginning to regret having given in so easily. She had to wonder at herself for her strange, secret desire to keep the thing; after all, she had been the one who found it. If their father never found out, where would be the harm?

As she thought the matter over, her curiosity began to be aroused. This object was a fairly new arrival; what if someone else had lost it? What if someone was looking for it right now? If it really was a human object, no human could possibly find it down here. And no human who'd lost a thing in the sea ever actually came looking for it.

Thinking of the humans peaked her curiosity even further. She'd never actually seen a human at all; the most she'd seen of them was when the massive ships floated by overhead, casting their chilling shadow over the ocean floor. But those weren't humans; humans were… were more like…

What _were_ they like?

A strange, new idea began to take shape in her head. Suppose, just once, she actually went up to the surface, just to see what it was like? She might even find whoever owned the little shiny clamshell. She'd go up, take one look around, leave the mysterious device on a rock, and then be off again, with no one but herself the wiser. When she thought about it in that light, it sounded like something Ariel might do. But she must be quick about it, before anyone missed her.

Moving as quickly as possible, Andrina darted up the slope of the hill of sand, before she could change her mind. The floor leveled out again as it hit the shallows; glancing around, she looked for a place where she wouldn't beach herself if the water became too shallow. Just off to the left, the ground became rocky; a large, stone outcropping ran upwards as far as she could see. Presumably, at some point, it stuck up out of the water; therefore, without hesitation, she swam up towards it.

The rock did in fact jut out of the water, but not quite as Andrina had anticipated. She broke the surface to discover a sheer cliff face, narrow but not short, that spanned the coast for some ways. To the right, a sandy beach was encompassed in a little cove, and the cliffs stretched on, gradually sloping lower until it came to a large harbor, where the humans anchored their ships; but this was currently out of sight around the bend. Leftwards, the cliff marched on around another bend, and there, just in front of her, was a small, partly submerged cave.

Slipping back underwater, Andrina could see that the cave was not deep, but ran aground farther up. She was not one to dismiss an opportunity for adventurous exploration, and proceeded to enter undaunted. Upon resurfacing behind a large rock, she found that the cave was really more of a tunnel from the land to the sea; farther on was an opening that led out into bright sunlight. Here and there, half buried in sand, refuse from an ancient shipwreck or two was scattered about; bits of timber and a few tattered shreds of a sail. And there, on the shore, sitting by the water, was a man. A _human_ man, dangling his long, straight, fleshy legs in the water, whistling merrily to himself.

Andrina's heart nearly stopped. Hardly daring to breathe, hardly daring to move, she could only stare at the human in terror and wonder. So that's what humans looked like; they seemed normal enough, aside from the legs. To tell the truth, Andrina couldn't help but admit that this particular human wasn't that bad looking, either.

Inwardly, she shook herself, trying to clear her head. There was no more time for delay; her sisters would be wondering what was taking so long just for getting rid of one human object. So, very slowly to avoid making ripples, she eased the clam-shell-device up over the edge of the rock and carefully placed it on the top.

The man looked up. Their eyes met. He smiled. "Oh, hey. You new around here?"

No chance of quick escape now. Heart in her mouth, Andrina searched frantically for a plan. _Calm down_ , she told herself. _He's mistaken you for a human; just stay in the water and play along_. "Uh, yeah," she replied, smiling back. "Hey there. Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt or whatever; I was just leaving, actually."

"Oh, no, it's okay," said the man. "You can stay if you want to."

"No, really, I need to be getting back," she told him, carefully keeping her tail out of view behind the rock. "My sisters will be wondering where I'm at, so—"

This only seemed to encourage the man to ask more questions. "Oh, did you come down to the beach for a bit?"

"Yeah," she answered, improvising. "We were just about to leave. Just came down for a swim today, that's all."

The man gave her a puzzled smile. "It's a little chilly to be swimming, isn't it?"

"Oh, we swim in all kinds of weather," said Andrina with a nervous laugh. An unfamiliar tingling seemed to be travelling up and down her spine. Leaving the mystery device on the rock, she made to go.

"Wait!" The man rose, standing up to his shins in the water. "What's your name?"

Something in his voice brought her to a halt. "Um…" She hesitated, debating. Odds were, she'd never have to see him again; where was the harm in telling him? "… Andrina. I'm Andrina, nice to meet you." Slowly, she turned back. "And you are…?"

An odd color entered the man's face. "I'm Charming."

 _Yes, you are_ , thought Andrina, grinning slightly. What she said aloud was, "Oh, really?"

"It was my mother's idea," he said quickly. "Honestly, I prefer my middle name."

Andrina allowed a smile. "And what's that?"

"Henry."

A small shiver ran up Andrina's back. It must be getting cold; she'd better go. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Henry." With a cheery wave, she slid quickly back into the water.

"Hey, are you coming back this way anytime soon?"

Andrina's stomach gave a peculiar lurch. "Um… I don't know. Maybe?"

"Do you think you could… I don't know, come back again sometime soon?" he asked hesitantly.

By this point, the princess' head was spinning a little. Trying to master her rising panic, she found herself saying, "Um, sure. Why not tomorrow? How does just after ten sound?"

"Sounds great," he agreed, smiling broadly.

"Cool, I'll see you then." Before anything else happened, Andrina ducked behind the rock and plunged back underwater.

Henry stood where he was, curiously pondering what had just happened. Glancing up, he caught sight of something shining faintly on the rock where the mysterious girl had just been. Wading out to it, he picked it up. "Hey, wait up! I think you dropped something!"

There was no one in sight, nor hardly a ripple of there ever having been one.


	3. Chapter Three

_**Three**_

Back in the safety of the deep blue, Andrina took long, deep breaths, trying to steady herself. Oh, why had she just done that? What was wrong with her? He was a _human_ ; if her father found out, he'd be outraged. Shaking herself, Andrina swam back home as fast as she could possibly go; she'd sort out the events when she got there.

Her sisters were waiting by the window when she got back, her face flushed. She received many pats on the back as they crowded round, waiting for her to get her breath back.

"Did you do it?" whispered Arista, fairly bouncing in her excitement.

"Obviously," gasped Andrina, clenching her hands to stop them from trembling.

"It should not have taken that long just to get rid of one tiny thing," said Attina, eyes narrowing. "Where did you go?"

Andrina gulped once or twice before explaining. "I got a little… turned around; got lost. But it's gone now, and I'm back."

Attina eyed her suspiciously, but said nothing more. "All right, girls; we're all just going to act like none of this happened, okay?"

They all nodded solemnly. No one really felt like playing Truth or Dare anymore.

King Triton stuck his head in through the doorway. "Girls, it's almost time for dinner."

All the sisters jumped, pasting big, happy smiles on their faces for their father. Once he'd gone out again, all eyes turned to Attina.

"Well, back to normal, I guess," she said with a shrug, then headed out and downstairs for dinner. One by one, all the other sisters followed suit.

Over dinner, Andrina tried to sort out the afternoon's events. It seemed odd that the very first human she ever met in her life should make her feel so… well, so _unusual_ (she tried not to think _excited_ ). According to their father, humans were nothing more nor less than fish-eating barbarians. His credibility on that statement was definitely questionable anyway, but Andrina had always known that humans usually were bad news for merpeople.

"Not feeling that hungry?" Aquata whispered next to her.

Arista looked up from her own plate. "You going to eat that?" she asked around a mouthful of sea greens.

Andrina shoved her plate across to her. "Help yourself."

Eagerly, Arista did so, shoveling down the food at an incredible pace. Andrina rubbed her forehead, as if to massage away the growing sense of some emotion she'd never felt before. What was she supposed to do now? She'd made a promise to go back, and she always tried to keep her word; but for a human? Maybe she should just forget the whole thing ever happened. Her life would go back to normal; Henry would show up, be disappointed when she didn't…

Henry's face suddenly loomed before her mind. Somehow, the thought of being dishonest to him was almost unbearable.

She made up her mind. She would go back tomorrow, just to see if he was still there. If he was, she would tell him she was leaving for somewhere far, far away, never to return, and that would be that. If he wasn't there, she'd have no reason to go back again, anyway, and that would be that. Marginally satisfied, she sat back and watched her sisters eat their dinner, blocking out the mild curiosity of why she suddenly felt such a strong desire to see the human again.

The next day was clear and bright, as were many days experienced under the sea. After breakfast and the morning walk; which, this time, happened to be through a lovely garden area; the girls were set loose on the town. Ariel swam away singing to find her friend, Flounder, with whom she spent a great deal of time these days; Attina was off doing her studies with Triton; the rest of the girls found various things to do with their own friends, and Andrina followed after them through town.

"Isn't the new boy's Clam Ball team gorgeous?" sighed Adella, waving to a few of the boys who happened by.

"They're not as good as the team west of here," commented Aquata. "Their playoffs didn't go well last year."

"That can easily be forgiven," said Adella dreamily, smoothing her hair.

Alana held up a pair of earrings that matched her hair comb. "What do you think about these?"

"Looks good, if you're going for jellyfish flocking around your head," remarked Andrina.

Alana scoffed dismissively. "I can't ask you anything fashion related."

Adella glanced over a display case of pearl necklaces. "We should hurry; all I really need is some more mascara before Stevie and I go to the theater at ten."

Andrina whipped around to face her. "Wait, _ten_? As in, ten o'clock?"

"Yeah, as in, ten-minutes-from-now-ten-o'clock," affirmed Adella dismissively, absent-mindedly touching up her lipstick in the reflection of a polished shell. Turning back around, she blinked; in a swirling cloud of bubbles, Andrina had vanished.

In an astonishingly short space of time, Andrina had torpedoed out of town and across to the plateau. She barely noticed as she shot through a school of silver fish, leaving displaced water and a hurried apology in her wake. She was almost to the cave when she pulled up short. What would she say to him? Would he even be there? What would he do if he found out she was a mermaid?

Trying to act casual, she straightened her hair, steadied her nerves, and made her way up to the cave. After a moment of pressing her back to the rock, not sure if she hoped he was there or not, she broke the surface of the water and peered at the bank.

It was empty.

Andrina let out a sigh of relief, which was rapidly followed by the feeling that her heart had suddenly dropped useless to the bottom of her stomach. That confused her; what was the big deal? It meant she was free as a gull from all possible suspicion of misconduct; at least, as long as she didn't linger around here too long. There was no real reason to feel as if part of her had died.

Even so, that didn't necessarily imply he had no intention to come. A quick glance outside at the sun alerted her that it was only just barely ten o'clock; he might be on his way now. She hadn't been speared yet, but she could be.

Swimming up to the bank, she came upon the shipwreck debris, still scattered over the sand. The shore was speckled with bits of wood, shreds of rope, and occasionally something that sparkled a little.

Hauling herself into a sitting position, she lifted a large piece of stuff that had once been a sail, peering under it. Something gleamed dully back at her. Pulling it out, she discovered a very small, ornate comb of some sort, very slightly similar to a few she and her sisters had. Sticking it in her hair, she ran her fingers through the sand, feeling for anything else there might be. Soon, she'd turned up a few broken, sharp, green things, a piece of wood carved into an odd shape, and several round, flat pieces of the same hard substance that the strange human device had been made of.

"Hunting for buried treasure today?"

Andrina whipped around, yanking the piece of sail over her tail. Henry was standing at the mouth of the cave, smiling widely at her. He hadn't seen anything unusual. "Yeah, pretty much," she said lightly, while her heart rate steadied itself again. "Check it out." She waved a hand at the hoard she'd turned up.

Henry knelt down beside her for a better look. "Wow, look at that." He picked up one of the flat things. "There might be a lot of money down there."

Andrina had a feeling she shouldn't ask what "money" was in order to retain a low profile. Fortunately, Henry took that opportunity to say, "Oh, by the way, I wanted to give this back."

Next moment, Andrina received a bit of a shock at the sight of the human feeling around inside what appeared to be his leg; she soon realized that the stuff wasn't actually part of his body, but similar to the bit of sail she had now. Out of a small hole in his covering, Henry pulled the strange object she'd found the day before. "You forgot your compass yesterday."

"Oh, it's not mine," said Andrina quickly. "I just found it. I thought it might belong to someone, so I hung onto it for a bit. Do you know whose it is?"

"I don't think so; it looks a bit too waterlogged to have been lost recently."

"Oh; well, in that case, you can keep it, if you want."

Henry smiled at her. "Thanks." Andrina tried to look uninterested as she watched with fascination as he put it back in the hole.

"So, what do you suppose the rest of this stuff is?" she inquired, gesturing at the pile of hard bits of colored stuff and the strange wooden shape.

Henry picked up the wooden object. "Well, this looks like it might have been the pipe of some crusty pirate captain." Curling his index finger, he put the end of the little carving in his teeth and made a savage expression. Although she had no clue what a pipe was, Andrina did happen to know what pirates were; they traversed the sea frequently enough.

"And these," Henry continued, fingering the round, flat things, "might be doubloons they buried here long ago. And those could be the last few bottles of rum they had with them before they buried their hoard."

"Cool." Gingerly, Andrina picked up a chunk of the green stuff. It glittered magnificently when it caught the light. "And I guess this—" She tweaked the tiny comb in her hair, "—could have been a present for his lady friend?"

"Perhaps." Henry looked ready to laugh. "Pretty sure that's just half of a fork, though."

Not asking what a "fork" was, Andrina shrugged. "Well, I did say 'could.' Besides, doesn't it look simply fabulous?" She struck a dramatic pose, being careful not to move too much.

At this, Henry did laugh, which, for some reason, sent the same pleasant tingles down Andrina's spine. Then, he bowed. "My lady, you look positively stupendous." He spun about, whipping something very long and bright and sharp out from what she could only guess was the hole where he'd stowed the compass thing (just how deep _was_ that thing?) "Avast, mates!" he cried gallantly, spinning the thing around. "We must protect our lady! Shiver me timbers!"

Andrina tried to look impressed and not horrified at this new phenomenon. "You carry that around with you wherever you go?"

Henry seemed put off guard by her question, quickly stowing the thing back wherever he'd pulled it from; upon further inspection, she realized the thing had a long, black case hanging on his hip. "Oh, not every day; just sometimes. Mostly just for show, really, but never know if I might need it."

Andrina raised an eyebrow. "And what exactly might that be?"

Henry gave her another bow. "Why, for defending beautiful maidens like you from dreadful pirates, of course."

"Naturally," said Andrina, hoping he didn't see the color rising to her cheeks.

The next few hours were spent in great fun. Henry hadn't seem to notice the fact that Andrina rarely moved, nor did he ask what the piece of sail was for; he was busy galloping about, fending off imaginary pirates, dragons, or whatever else he fancied to be about. Andrina could hardly help watching with fascination all his antics, and actually rather enjoyed making him laugh. She now understood what a sword was and its purpose, as well as something of an idea of pockets and what they were for. After more scavenging, they'd uncovered something Henry called a pail, more of the flat, round "coins," and the other half of the fork, which proved that it was really more like King Triton's trident than a comb. Andrina still hadn't the faintest idea what it was for, but she felt that it didn't matter as much.

After their fun, Henry lay down on the warm sand beside her, watching the waves lapping against the shore. "It is so nice today," he sighed.

"It really is," Andrina agreed sincerely. A cool breeze wafted in over them, fresh with the scent of clean, salty spray. "I wish we could do this every day."

Henry gazed curiously at her. "Well, why can't we?"

Andrina bit her lip, realizing what she'd just said. "Um, well… I guess we can," she found herself answering.

Henry's face lit up. "Great! So, how about here, every day at ten o'clock?"

"Sure." Andrina found herself smiling in spite of herself; it was truly an exciting fancy. Then, she checked herself. "Of course…"

Henry's smile faded. "What?"

"I mean…" Andrina thought hard for a believable answer. "I don't think my family would be too happy with it," she admitted. When his face fell, she quickly added, "But that doesn't mean they have to know. It can be our secret." She put her hands over his in a confidential manner.

From outside the cave, there suddenly came an unfamiliar thundering sound, followed by a shrill cry of some strange animal. Andrina shrank down, pressing her back to the rocks, while Henry sprang to his feet.

"Hallo!" cried a different voice outside. "Henry, is that you in there?"

"Um, yes," Henry called back. "I'll be right out!" Stooping back down, he murmured to Andrina, "Tomorrow at ten, okay? See you then."

"See you," Andrina whispered back, carefully sliding back into the water, keeping her covering wrapped protectively around her tail. She watched as Henry went out to meet whoever it was, whom he seemed to be familiar with. Slowly, Andrina backed out until she was safely out of the cave, back into the open ocean. The noonday sun lit up the blue waves, making them glisten.

 _Noon_! She had been out here far too long; she had to get back before the others missed her. Quickly wriggling out of the piece of sail, she rolled it up into a wad and tucked it under one arm; she may have need of it in the future. Then, with all possible speed, she swam back to Atlantica.


	4. Chapter Four

_**Four**_

Lunch was served at high noon in the castle of Atlantica; shortly before the hour, six of the sisters had made their way back to the castle, gossiping all the way.

"So, how'd it go with Stevie?" Aquata asked Adella.

"It was okay," Adella admitted. "It wasn't like a real date thing, though; he just wanted to hang out. It's cool, though; I can tell he likes me."

"The way you flirt, I'd think you were either leading him on, or you like him, too," Arista pointed out without hesitation.

"Yeah, back when you were thirteen, you said he was lame," Alana agreed, nodding.

Adella's cheeks went bright pink. "Oh, come on; that was so not what I said!"

"That is exactly what you said, as far as I recall," affirmed Aquata.

Ariel floated by, humming indistinctly. "Did you see the new orchestra Sebastian's putting together? I'll bet it's going to be fabulous!"

It was then that Attina noticed a marked difference in the room. "Hey, where's Andrina? She's never usually late."

"She was with us earlier," said Alana uncertainly.

"Yeah, I remember," Adella put in. "Last time we saw her, she took off like a school of anchovies was after her."

"But that was two hours ago," added Aquata. "We never saw her after that."

The doors burst open, and in came Andrina, looking ruffled but rather pleased with herself. "Made it."

All turned to stare at her as she straightened herself out. "Just in time," muttered Attina, glancing skeptically over as her sister whisked something bright out of her hair, tossing it behind a random, indiscernible rock. Aside from shortness of breath, nothing really seemed amiss; still, Attina continued to stare at Andrina over lunch.

"What is up with her?" Alana murmured in Ariel's ear.

Ariel shrugged. "No idea. Maybe she went for a long swim."

Andrina, meanwhile, barely registered the looks she was getting. In spite of having caught her breath, her heart was positively bursting with excitement over her new secret. Unlike yesterday, her plate was clean in a matter of minutes. Ignoring the astonished faces of her sisters, she hurried back upstairs to their room.

Just before coming in to lunch, she'd carefully folded up her bit of sail and stowed it in her pillowcase. Now, she cautiously took it out again, spreading it out over her blanket to examine it. It looked to be a very standard piece of sail, much like an ordinary blanket; it was almost big enough to be one. Gnawing her lip thoughtfully, she lifted it up; she might be able to do something useful with this. Rolling it into a tube shape, she measured it against herself, and discovered that, if she had something to tie it with, she could make a sort of bag to cover her tail with whenever she visited with Henry. True, he may consider it weird, but as long as he never found out, that was good enough for her.

Swimming over to the window, she leaned out and looked down. Just under the sill, a few long, thin strands of kelp were growing. Plucking one of these, she secured it tightly round the end of her makeshift sack. Upon tightening this, however, the kelp snapped.

"Not quite strong enough." Gnawing her lip, she made a search of the top drawer in the dresser. A thick, pale green hair tie might just do the trick. After wrapping it round the end, she had successfully created a cover that could slip over her tail when needed; all that was necessary now was a sash to hold it up.

A second search of the drawer provided a long belt of thick seaweed decorated with pearls that happened to be Adella's (merpeople wore belts sometimes, usually for show or carrying tools). Tying this about her waist, she was greatly pleased with the results. One look at herself in the mirror showed her exactly what she'd hoped for: a very human-looking torso with human's clothes instead of a tail. As long as she stayed sitting, Henry would never notice the difference.

The next day at ten, just before she entered the secret cave, Andrina slipped her invention over her tail. It was a bit harder to swim around this way, but she managed and got into the cave. Hoisting herself up onto a large rock at the edge of the shore, she sat, dangling the end of her bag in the water. She hadn't waited long before Henry himself slipped quietly into the cave.

"You alone?" he asked in a rather hushed voice.

"All clear," she answered cheerfully. She felt a glow of happiness as a smile broke Henry's face; why did it do that to her? "I've been standing guard for you."

Henry chuckled. "Thanks. Nice dress," he added, glancing at her new human clothes.

"Made it myself," she said, patting it proudly, which drew another chuckle from him. To him, she was sure it looked like a piece of trash washed up after a wreck; which it was; but she didn't care. To get off the subject, she inquired, "So, who was that who came by yesterday?"

Henry glanced a little guiltily at his feet. "Oh, that was just my dad."

"Oh? What did he want?"

Henry shrugged dismissively. "Ah, well, you know what dads are like."

"Boy, do I," she nodded. She had to wonder how Henry would feel about her if he found out she was a princess and not a commoner like himself. "So, what do you feel like doing today?"

Henry sat down beside her, taking off the long, black things that covered his feet so he could dangle them in the water. "I don't know; how about we just talk for a while?"

"Sure," Andrina consented, curious to hear of the human way of life. "So, what's your life like?"

Again, Henry looked uncertain. "Oh, well, it's nothing unusual; I live with my father in, ah, a place nearby; I lost my mother when I was little…"

Andrina stared at him. "Really? So did I."

"Oh." Henry gazed back at her. They shared a moment of silence. Then, he cleared his throat. "Well, anyway, I'm an only child, but my cousins live with us; they're a little… um, interesting, but I'm sure they mean well. It's a big enough house, so it's not too crowded."

This sparked Andrina's curiosity; eager to know what a "house" was, she asked, "What's your house like?"

Henry hesitated, saying dismissively, "Oh, you know, it's pretty big, but not enormous. I have my own room, and so does my father, and the cousins have theirs, so it's fairly… comfortable."

Andrina suspected there was more to it than Henry was telling her; but then again, she was a mermaid, so she could live with not knowing Henry's secret just yet. As she was more interested in all the peculiar things he had to talk about, she asked, "So, what do you do there?"

"Mostly I fence," he replied, "or ride, if it's nice out. My horse's named Major; he's a pretty easy-going ride, if you know how to handle him…"

Andrina didn't quite know what a "horse" was, but she knew what seahorses were, so she reasoned they must be something alike, only horses were assumedly much larger. She felt it rather odd that, in spite of their use of legs, humans seemed to prefer not using them whenever possible. Henry also spoke of something called "carts" (or maybe it was "carriage"; he mentioned both, and she had trouble telling the difference) that could carry more than one human at a time. Many of the things sounded similar enough to the things merpeople used, so she could hazard a guess at what they were for.

"Your life doesn't sound that boring to me," she told him at length. "My life isn't nearly as interesting as that."

"Well, what is your life like, then?" he asked good naturedly.

"Um, well," she began hesitantly, "I'm not an only child; I have six sisters—"

" _Six_?"

"Yep; it can be pretty wild sometimes. But our dad's cool with it; he's pretty busy most of the time, but he's been taking a lot more time for us now than he used to after our mother's death. Do you know, he actually banned music for a while?"

Henry frowned in confusion. "How do you ban music? Was it, like, from your house?"

Realizing she'd been dangerously close to revealing that her father was the ruler of a kingdom, she nodded, going with that story. "Yeah, he wouldn't let us play instruments, sing, or anything for years. It was ridiculous. I mean, not that anyone took him seriously or anything; when he was actually around, we wouldn't do anything, but whenever he wasn't there, nobody really followed that rule. It was my youngest sister who finally helped knock some sense into him, so he's doing a lot better now. He can still be weird with that sort of thing, though."

And so she did her best to explain what she could without mentioning anything he might not understand. As language was evidently not a barrier in this respect, she told him some of the ways of life in Atlantica; as if, by "Atlantica," she meant her father's "house." The stories about her sisters made him laugh; something she enjoyed immensely, for some reason; and led to questions about what it was like living with six people.

"Crowded, mostly," she told him. "And loud, too; I mean, Arista and Ariel cannot shut up; they were the ones who took right to music when it was allowed again."

"They sound like a lot of fun, actually," said Henry.

"Oh, they are," she agreed. "They're just the young ones, so they're more excitable."

Henry propped his elbow on his knee, resting his chin on his hand. "And what are your other sisters like?"

Andrina counted them off. "Well, Attina's like Dad; kind of a control freak, but she has the organization; Aquata's the brainiac, good with numbers; Adella has a thing with boys, Alana loves fashion, Arista is a little on the high side most of the time, and Ariel loves music."

"And what do you like?" he asked.

"I like swimming," she said truthfully.

"That I can see," he acknowledged, bemused. "Anything else?"

This was not a question Andrina was used to answering off the top of her head. In all honesty, she wasn't really sure what she liked. After thinking the matter over, she shrugged. "I like making people happy."

Henry smiled. "I'll bet you're a professional at that."

His words warmed her heart, and she glanced down, aware of the blush rising to her face. The light reflected on the water almost dazzled her eyes.

She was suddenly broadsided with a reminder of the time. "Oh, I just remembered, I have to be back before noon. I hope that's okay?" She looked up at him anxiously.

Reaching into his pocket-hole, Henry took out a tiny, gold-colored device very much like the compass. Flipping it open, he glanced at it. "Well, it's only a little after eleven now. We have time."

This time, Andrina couldn't keep herself from asking, "What's that?"

"What, this?" Henry held it out to her. "It was my grandfather's old watch he handed down to me."

"Wow, neat." Andrina turned it over, looking at it. It was very much like the compass; it had a cover that snapped shut, a round, smooth circle, and many tiny lines around the edge. But instead of one arrow, this had three, and only one of them moved constantly around, pointing at one mark at a time. She could hardly help turning it around and around, fascinated.

"I can see why you kept the compass," Henry remarked with a grin.

"Oh, sorry." Andrina quickly snapped it closed, handing it back. "I just… have a thing for that sort of thing, I guess."

"Well, that's cool," he said encouragingly, holding the watch to the light. "If you look there, my grandfather's name is written on it."

Andrina looked hard, squinting. "Ra… Ru—dol—pa—huss?"

"'Rudolphus,'" he corrected. "Names were a little different back in his time."

"I can see that. Shouldn't there be an 'F' there instead?"

"It's actually a 'PH'," Henry pointed out.

"I didn't say I couldn't read," she teased. "Maybe I just can't spell."

"I haven't heard you spell anything."

"Then, how would you know?"

Henry smirked. "All right, then, I'll test you. How many words can you spell in a minute? I'll time you." He held up the watch.

She readied herself. "Okay, but keep them short. And easy."

"Hand."

"H-A-N-D."

"Ocean."

"O-C-E-A-N."

"Salmon."

"S-A-L-M-O-N."

"Birds."

"B-I-R-D-S."

"Water."

"W-A-T-E-R."

"Uh, Yellow."

"Y-E-L-L-O-W."

His grin widened. "Glockenspiel."

"Cheater!"

They both laughed. "Okay, I'll give you a freebie for that one," he chuckled.


	5. Chapter Five

_**Five**_

Naturally, it wasn't long before the rest of the princesses began to sense an odd change in their sister's behavior. Her frequent disappearances over the next ten days or so became more noticeable, but she never seemed to be in a hurry for anything the rest of the time.

The first really distinct difference came when, one afternoon, Alana presented a question regarding a pair of pink shell earrings. "I don't know; do you think these are too much?"

Andrina, who hadn't even been looking to begin with, simply replied, "No, they're fine," and left it at that, without any of her usual sarcasm.

Alana, Ariel, and Attina stared at their sister for a full ten seconds. "Okay, that's not normal, is it?" Ariel whispered to Attina.

"No, it's not," Attina muttered, frowning slightly.

At that moment, Adella entered and began searching the dresser. "Has anyone seen my green belt anywhere?"

"Since when have you ever worn it?" Alana asked her.

"Since Stevie told me he likes green!" Adella shot back, frantically flinging clothes over her shoulder. "I bet Arista took it…"

"Took what?" asked Arista, who had just come in with Aquata.

"My green belt!" In a last desperate effort, Adella took out the drawer and dumped it on the floor, rummaging through its contents.

"Since when do you wear that?" Arista asked.

"I cannot go out without that belt!" cried Adella fiercely.

"Honey, you look fine without it," Andrina sighed, propping her chin in her hands and staring dreamily out the window.

This brought all the sisters to a standstill, staring at Andrina as if she had just sprouted the wings of a seagull. "Um, okay, who are you and what have you done with our sister?" demanded Aquata.

"What? What are you talking about?" asked Andrina distractedly, still gazing out the window.

"You." Attina cut around in front of her. "What's with the new attitude?"

"Nothing, everything's fine," Andrina insisted, rolling away and facing the wall.

Alana swam over, a slow grin spreading on her face. "Okay, who is it?"

This automatically piqued the interest of the rest of the girls; immediately, they clustered round her, waiting with gleeful anticipation.

"Who is what?" Andrina asked, not fully understanding.

"Come on, tell us," coaxed Aquata. "You met someone, right?"

"Do we know them?" pleaded Adella. "Just give us a name."

Sitting up, Andrina hesitated, biting her lip. Finally, she burst out, "His name is Henry." As soon as that was out, the rest came tumbling with it. "At least, he wants me to call him that. His real name is Charming; we've only been meeting for the last couple of weeks."

The first second or two were of shocked silence. Then, all at once, all the girls were bubbling with questions.

"Define 'Charming,'" said Aquata suggestively.

"Is he from around here?" inquired Alana. "I've never heard the name 'Henry' before."

Arista was fairly bouncing off the walls. "Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, this is so exciting! Is he cute?"

"He is the hottest guy alive," sighed Andrina, clutching at her already pounding heart; even thinking about him was beginning to drive her crazy. Up till now, she hadn't really put a name to the feeling, but now that she registered it as an official Crush, it was a thrilling and terrifying experience.

Ariel did a back flip. "This is incredible! Why haven't you said anything?"

Andrina shrugged, glancing sheepishly around. "Well, I didn't need to till now; I mean, nobody notices me."

Adella let out a dismissive laugh. "Sure; I mean, why would they?"

"Adella!" Ariel laid a defensive hand on Andrina's shoulder.

Adella's face went pink. "No, I didn't mean—I wasn't—"

Andrina shook her head. "Just forget it."

"This is so amazing!" squealed Arista, who had completely missed the exchange. Taking up Mr. Fuzzyfinkle, she began dancing with him about the room. "Andrina has a boyfriend, Andrina has a boyfriend!"

"Shh, not so loud," cautioned Andrina, half laughing all the same.

"Where did you meet him?" asked Attina, casually examining her fingernails.

Andrina halted, trying to think of a reasonable answer. "Oh… it was… around. Not too far from here."

Adella gasped, lowering her voice. "You didn't sneak off, did you?"

"Where did you go?" asked Alana.

"Did you do anything bad?" asked Aquata, almost in a whisper.

"Um…" Andrina fidgeted with her fingers; her mind had gone blank on her. "Not specifically; at least, people might _think_ it's bad, but I really don't think…"

Attina's expression grew serious. "Okay, what have you done?"

Andrina's words came out more as a squeak. "… He's a human?"

There was a very long silence.

"Tell me you're joking," said Attina faintly at last.

"It was sort of an accident," Andrina explained, speaking rapidly. "See, I went off to get rid of the compass like you said—"

"What's a 'compass'?" Ariel whispered to Arista, who shook her head.

"—and he was just there, and he saw me, but he thought I was another human, so I just rolled with it, and he wanted me to come back, so I did, and we just started hanging out and then…" Andrina dropped her arms to her sides.

"Are you out of your mind!?" cried Attina exasperatedly.

Andrina shrugged helplessly. "Maybe?"

There was another long silence.

Finally, Arista spoke, very quietly. "Can we see him?"

"Absolutely not!" cried Attina and Andrina together.

"It's way too dangerous," continued Attina. "He's already seen her; if he saw _all_ of us—"

"How did you not get caught?" asked Alana. "If you're still seeing him, does he know about—well, about us?"

Andrina shook her head. "I use this." She held up her sail cover.

Adella gasped. "My belt!"

"If our father finds out about this—" Attina began.

"You're not planning on telling him, are you?" Ariel swam defensively to Andrina's side.

"I—I was—" Attina stammered.

"We all know Daddy's a little weird with the human thing," Alana reminded, "but that's no reason to yell 'shark' the first time a rule gets bent a little."

"Besides, for all we know, humans aren't all that bad!" added Arista. "Maybe Daddy's just paranoid for nothing."

Adella turned to Andrina. "What's he like? Is he handsome?"

"Is he _nice_?" inquired Alana, glancing at Adella rather pointedly.

"He's the nicest human I've ever met," said Andrina. "I don't know if they all are, but he's certainly a gentleman."

"How much do you like him?" Aquata asked Andrina. "I mean, is this a serious thing for you? If he asked; if you could; would you…?"

"Absolutely," said Andrina resolutely. "More important than my feelings, he's my friend; I'd go to the depths for him."

There was more than one sympathetic squeal at this, but Attina was just as firm. "You cannot go back there again; it's just too risky."

"Oh, lighten up," Adella entreated her, mouthing in addition, "It could be true love."

Attina hesitated, wavering. The sisters took the opportunity to use their guppy-faces. Finally, Attina said, "That doesn't mean we're all going with you to whatever this is."

"I'm not asking you to," conceded Andrina. "In fact, I'd rather you didn't."

The response was almost unanimous: "Aaaaaaawww!"

"Come on, please?" begged Arista, practically folding in half with eagerness.

"We won't let him see us!" put in Ariel quickly.

"We just want to see him once!" pleaded Alana.

"Just to make sure he's totally hot," added Adella.

Andrina frowned at that remark. "Really, Adella?"

Adella smiled sheepishly. "It doesn't hurt."

"Just one time, please?" whined Aquata as the sisters bunched closely around Andrina, flinging their guppy-faces at her.

Andrina chewed her lip anxiously. "If you get caught—"

"We're not going to get caught," Alana assured her. "We're not dumb."

With a heavy sense of misgiving, Andrina slowly nodded. "Okay."

This was met with much rejoicing, stifled squeals and giggles, and as much general hysteria as the circumstances would allow.

"When do we go?" asked Ariel excitedly.

"Not now," urged Andrina, rather alarmed at the general feeling of sudden impulsiveness. "Tomorrow; I go to see him at ten. You can tag along, but _do not_ let him see you."

"Wouldn't dream of it," denied Aquata promptly. Once this was decided, the girls went back to tittering and giggling their excitement.

"I'm not going with you," said Attina firmly. "I have better things to do."

Andrina nodded, wringing her fingers. "I understand that." Lowering her voice, she added nervously, "This got so out of hand; I'm kinda scared now. I don't know what to do."

Attina smiled grimly. "Well, you'd better figure it out before Daddy does."

All was bright and clear the next day as the five princesses followed their sister to her secret meeting place. The girls were abuzz with eagerness, while Andrina was doing her best not to be overcome by apprehension.

"I've never seen a human up close before," gushed Arista excitedly.

"None of us have," added Ariel, "except Andrina, of course."

"It must be so weird to have legs instead of a tail," pondered Adella, glancing thoughtfully down at her own. "I wonder if they'd feel any different."

"I'd be more concerned about how they'd look," remarked Alana critically. "From what I've heard of them, they actually sound pretty gross."

"They'd be normal enough for humans," said Ariel, doing a back flip around a string of seaweed drifting by.

"Who are kinda gross, when you think about it," speculated Aquata.

Andrina signaled them to be quiet. "Shh, we're here."

They were now at the entrance to the cave. Andrina turned to face her sisters. "Okay, no matter what happens, stay out of sight. Just keep behind that big rock." She pointed to it, secured her tail cover, then swam up to meet Henry.

She hadn't waited long before Henry arrived, looking more pleased than usual to see her. She hailed him with a cheerful grin. "Haven't skipped out on me yet, I see?"

"You're way too interesting," Henry protested, casually dropping down beside her. "By the way, I have a present for you." Out of his pocket he drew a small, golden pendant on a fine chain. It was shaped like a shell, and had a cover which opened to reveal a pearl face with a small ridge sticking up from it.

Andrina held it gingerly, half afraid she might break the beautiful pendant. "Oh, you didn't have to do that. I mean, it's beautiful, but I don't think—"

Despite her protests, Henry hung the chain around her neck. "It suits you perfectly. It's only fair: you gave me a compass, so I'm giving you this."

"But what if it gets wet?" she asked. "Won't it break?"

Henry tapped the strange face. "This is a sundial; it works the same way as a clock, but it's water resistant. It won't hurt it."

Andrina ran a finger over the bright gold. She looked at Henry, eyes shining. "No one's ever given me such a beautiful gift before. Thank you."

Their eyes met for a long moment; then, feeling her cheeks reddening, Andrina dropped her gaze. "I guess I'll need to find you something better than an old compass," she said playfully.

"You've already done that," he returned, grinning widely. "I've got you."


	6. Chapter Six

_**Six**_

The rest of the morning passed in a blur. Before they knew it, it was nearly noon. Henry checked the time, then leapt up in shock. "Oh, boy. I have to be getting back."

"Same here," agreed Andrina, carefully sliding into the water. She had mostly dried off in the sun, and her tail was getting stiff and cramped. If she sat out too long, she would dry out. "Catch you later," she called as Henry made his way out of the cave. "And thanks again for the present!"

Henry turned one last time, waving back. "Anytime!" Then he dashed up the road and out of sight.

Slipping back into the cool waves, Andrina heaved a contented sigh, taking off her new keepsake; she couldn't be seen wearing that in Atlantica in front of her father. She was rather startled when she was suddenly swarmed by a delighted mob of fins and arms; she had quite forgotten the presence of her sisters.

"Oh my gosh; he's _sooo cute_!" squealed Adella.

"He's perfect!" cried Arista, spinning around excitedly.

"You are so perfect together," Aquata told Andrina, taking her hands and whirling her about.

"What did he give you?" inquired Ariel, peering at her new trinket.

All attention was turned to the new novelty among them. The gasps and exclaimed appraisals displayed the level of admiration the necklace had gained.

"It looks so expensive," commented Alana, peering over Aquata's shoulder to see.

"He's definitely a keeper," sang Aquata, fairly writhing with excitement.

Adella hovered by Andrina's ear, half murmuring, "Does he have any friends?"

"Ew, Adella, no," Andrina protested, wrinkling her nose. "I thought you were going out with Stevie."

"This is incredible!" Ariel seized Andrina's hand. "We have to tell Attina about this."

Andrina shied back, cradling her precious gift to her chest. "Why? She already said she's not interested. She'll just freak out."

"Aw, come on," begged Alana. "She's our sister, after all."

"It's not like she'd tell anybody," added Arista, assisting in hurrying Andrina along as they made their way back.

"This is like the biggest secret we've ever had," said Aquata emphatically. "It's so exciting!"

Still bubbling with enthusiasm, the girls made their way back to Atlantica, Andrina at the center of their attention. It was only when they got to the outskirts of the city when Arista voiced a very good question: "How are we going to hide the necklace?"

That had not been addressed thus far. They all stopped, staring at the necklace. It was not something that could be easily hidden; no one could possibly mistake that for an ordinary shell.

Aquata acted first, scooping up a nearby mollusk. "Put it in here."

Andrina took the mollusk and slipped her new treasure inside it, closing her fist tightly around it. With this new addition, the girls made their way back, somewhat quieter and more collected, but no less exuberant than before.

At the edge of the city, Attina was waiting for them, hands on hips. "Well?"

"Don't worry; we got this," whispered Ariel, grinning as she swam past. All the sisters were smiling broadly.

"You're really missing out," Alana murmured to Attina, casting her a knowing smile. Attina rolled her eyes, but fell back with Andrina, who came in last.

"I want you to be super careful with this, okay?" she implored, clasping her sister's hand. "Just don't get hurt."

"Trust me, this guy won't be the one hurting me," Andrina assured her, holding the precious shell to her heart.

Over lunch, King Triton was completely baffled as to the reason his daughters were all so quiet, yet looking so pleased. Andrina in particular, who was paying no more heed to her food than yesterday, was staring dreamily out the window. Once the meal was over, she swam off, rather carelessly, back to whatever her usual business was. That was odd… was she _humming_?

Triton turned, frowning in confusion, just in time to see Arista and Alana snickering over something. "What?" he inquired.

They immediately sobered up, looking surprised. "Nothing," said Arista innocently. "Just girl stuff."

That was followed up by another stifled giggle on Ariel and Aquata's side of the table. The king did not happen to catch them in the act, but slid them a curious glance. It was obvious something was definitely up.

Triton went to the window, watching Andrina wandering lazily about in the gardens. Happening upon a beautiful coral bush, she delicately brushed its fronds with her fingertips, heaving a contented sigh.

Scratching his beard, Triton turned to see Adella at his elbow, watching with a contented smile. Triton raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't happen to know what's going on, would you?"

"Oh, isn't it obvious, Daddy?" sighed Adella, not paying attention. "Andrina's in love."

Triton pulled up short, staring at her incredulously. "In _love_?"

Adella gave a rather guilty start, then shrugged. "Well, sure, I guess."

Triton turned to face the rest of his daughters, as if they might provide a better explanation. But the girls did not hang around to be questioned; they were quick to hurry back to their various daily activities. Adella was swift to join them, wincing under a pointed glare from Attina. Triton stared after them, still scratching his head, uncertain of whether this was supposed to be good news or bad news. Perhaps it would be a good idea to find out.

Shortly after ten the following day, Andrina was already long gone, having slipped out at her first opportunity. The girls intended to follow, but not before making one last petition.

"You have to come with us," Arista insisted, towing Attina along.

"Absolutely not!" Attina hissed, pulling free. "I have stuff to do here."

"It's only for like ten minutes!" pleaded Aquata, clasping the end of Attina's fins. "No one will miss you; just one time, that's all."

"Come on, you've got to see him!" whispered Adella eagerly. "He's totally gorgeous!"

"I'll bet you're curious to know what they're like," coaxed Alana temptingly.

"He's completely different from anything Daddy says," Ariel put in.

Throughout this, the sisters were herding Attina towards the outskirts of the city. It was clear her reluctance was only hindered by her curiosity, and they were milking it for all it was worth.

"I can't go," Attina repeated, though with less certainty.

"Just ten minutes," said Aquata, nudging Attina onward, employing her guppy eyes against her. "Nothing could possibly go wrong in ten minutes."

"You'd be surprised," Attina muttered, finally relenting. "Okay, fine; I'll go. But no longer than that, got it?"

"Sure thing," chirped Arista, drifting over her sister's head. "You can go whenever you want, but there's no telling how long Andrina will be up there."

Alana checked herself, counting heads. "Where's Adella? I thought she'd be coming."

"She knows where we'll be," said Ariel lightly. "She can just follow along."

"Here!" Adella burst in on the scene, panting a little. "I got caught up talking to Stevie."

"Did anyone see you?" asked Aquata, glancing around just to make sure.

"I don't think so," Adella replied, shaking her head. "Come on, let's go!"

The six of them hurried off in a flurry of bubbles. Adella checked one last time over her shoulder to see if they were in the clear. She thought she saw a shadow of movement in the corner of her eye, but she couldn't be certain; probably just a school of minnows. Putting in an extra spurt of speed, she swam on to catch up with her sisters.

Henry had arrived at the cave a bit later than usual, but arrive he did, and was just as pleased to find Andrina waiting for him, eyes bright, wearing the necklace. "I take it you like your present?" he said good humouredly.

"Haven't exchanged it yet," she informed, beaming at him. "So, what have you been up to?"

"Oh, just settling a few things." Henry sat down beside her. For a moment he sat, twiddling his fingers and looking rather hesitant. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"You just did," she observed. "Or did you mean something else?"

"Well, in that case, two things," he conceded, smiling. "Second question: how would it be if you came to visit for a bit?"

Andrina gave a start. "What, you mean like… out there, at your place?" She pointed out of the cave to the bright, sunlit land.

"Yeah." He took her hand. "What do you say?"

"Oh, uh…" Andrina hesitated, wondering what would pass as a viable excuse. Oddly enough, she realized that she truly wanted to accept the offer. Sure, there was no possible way she could, but the sudden desire of actually going up on land, just once, to see what it was like…

She shook herself out of the ludicrous fantasy. "I really don't think I can; my dad would not be too happy about it."

"Well, then maybe I could visit you sometime," he suggested.

Andrina let out a giggle in spite of herself. "Yeah, I doubt that." To Henry's puzzled look, she explained, "My dad would probably fry you." _Literally_ , she added silently.

Henry's face fell a little, but he remained optimistic. "Well, just keep it in mind for now. The offer's there if you want it."

"Well, thanks," she replied, smiling.

"You're welcome." Henry returned the grin, then faltered, as if there were something else on his mind. "So, um… I guess… If you didn't… want—I mean, that is…"

Andrina listened in amusement as he fumbled through a few more fragmented sentences, reasoning that this was probably the most adorable thing in the world. "Yeah?"

Henry took a deep breath, plunging into a rapid explanation. "How would you feel if I'm not quite what you think I am?"

That subject was less awkward than he supposed, considering he was speaking to a disguised mermaid. "Well, that depends on what you mean by what I think you are," she said truthfully.

"Well, the thing is…" Henry hesitated, looking pained. "I didn't want to say anything before, but… I'm actually a prince."

That did take Andrina aback somewhat. "A _prince_? Like, an actual, legit prince of a kingdom? Are you serious?"

In truth, this was excitingly pleasurable to her, but evidently, Henry had mistaken her tone, for he hung his head, looking as if all his hopes in their continuing friendship were dashed. "Yes, I am a prince. It's just, I didn't want anything to get… you know, weird between us. I'm sorry for lying."

"Hey, it's okay." Andrina took his hand. "We've all got some secrets. Prince or not, I still like you."

She hadn't quite meant to say it like that, but there it was. Instantly, the flush rose to her cheeks as Henry met her gaze. His look made her heart flutter. "Well, that's good to know. And if it evens the score, I'd still like you if you were… well, part fish."

Andrina laughed at that, partly out of nervousness; she had to wonder if he knew more about her than he was sharing. Up until that moment, she hadn't quite realized that they were still holding hands.

They gazed at each other for a lengthy minute; then, suddenly, Henry leapt to his feet. "Oh, I forgot! I can't stay long today; that's partly why I wanted to tell you about that. I've got to take off now; princely duty, and all that. But I'll see you again tomorrow, okay?"

"See you then, your Highness," she confirmed, nodding. She watched as he hastened away up the road, waving until her arm hurt and he was out of sight. Then, heart full near to bursting, she slipped back into the cool ocean, sliding out of her disguise and pressing her hand over her lovely pendant.


	7. Chapter Seven

_**Seven**_

Once back under the surface, she was surprised to meet Attina, looking rather alarmed. "Hey, what brings you here?"

"Where have you been?" hissed Attina frantically. "We were going nuts. What took you so long?"

"Seriously, I wasn't gone that long." Andrina couldn't hold back a contented sigh. "All the same, though, I'm pretty sure I've just had the best day of my life."

"That's great," said Attina hastily, "but listen—"

"Did you know," Andrina plowed on, "he just told me this today; he's actually a _prince_ ; like, a real, life prince!" She allowed herself one pirouette in her excitement. "And get this: he actually invited me over to his palace! I mean, it's probably not happening, but I think it means he likes me, too! This is seriously the best thing that has ever happened to me; like, literally the happiest day… of my life…"

Her elation had come to a bit of a standstill at the sight of the rest of her sisters. They were not celebrating in her success, as she had anticipated; instead, they huddled close together, looking guiltily at the sandy floor. Just before them hovered King Triton, scowling viciously in her direction.

Andrina bit her lip. "Uh-oh."

"I consider myself a reasonable merman," the king growled. "I set certain rules, and I expect those rules to be obeyed." He swam threateningly forward with each word, Andrina shrinking back beneath his shadow. "And if I hadn't seen Adella sneaking out the city, heading straight for the forbidden shallows, who knows what would have happened then."

Adella's eyes widened, and she bowed her head under the accusing looks from her sisters.

"Daddy, wait—" Ariel attempted to swim forward, but Attina silenced her with a look.

"Contact with humans is strictly forbidden," Triton thundered on. "All of you know that; everyone knows that!" Turning his gaze on Attina, he said, "I expected more from you, at the very least. I thought you more responsible than this."

Attina hung her head, not bothering to defend herself.

"This is nobody's fault but mine," Andrina stated firmly, moving between Attina and their father. "None of them had anything to do with this."

"That's not true!" cried Ariel. "We were—"

Triton rounded sternly on her. "I'll deal with you in a moment." Turning back, he demanded, "How long? How long have you been going to the surface?"

"A couple weeks," Andrina mumbled, quickly adding loudly, "But I never said anything about—"

Triton ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "It's bad enough that you went at all; but that you allowed yourself to be _seen_ —"

"It was an accident," Andrina tried to explain. "Yes, he saw me, but he thought I was another human, and he's never found out, so it's—"

"It's what?" snapped Triton fiercely. "'Fine,' is it? He knows your name, about your life, about everything you've told him, but not the fact that you're a mermaid, so that makes it 'fine'?"

"It's better than it could be!" she belted defensively. "Besides, you don't even know what he's like!"

"I don't have to _know_ him," roared Triton. "He's a human. They're all the same: spineless, savage, harpooning fish-eaters; and if he had any idea what you are, he'd just as soon spear you too!"

"You know not all humans are like that!" cried Andrina, her cheeks growing hot. "Just because we lost Mom because of an accident—"

Triton's knuckles turned pale as he gripped his trident. "Don't you ever speak to me about that in that way. As long as you're in my kingdom—"

"He didn't make that happen!" Andrina continued passionately. "What's more, he's lost his own mother; I understand that."

"There's hardly anything to understand in that!" barked Triton. "One less human to worry about!"

Andrina's surge of anger on the human's account fueled her as she blurted out, "He's the sweetest, most honest, open-hearted person I've ever met; I _love_ him!"

She had not quite intended to say that aloud. That brought the king up short; he stared incredulously at her. "Have you lost your senses completely? He's a human; you're a mermaid!"

"That doesn't matter," said Andrina hotly; she knew she had already gone well beyond her limits, but for some reason she was beginning to not care. "You need to let this grudge go; it's completely senseless!"

The trident in the king's hand was beginning to hum threateningly, glowing hot at the tips. "So help me, Andrina," growled Triton, his voice dangerously low, "I'm going to get through to you. And if this is the only way, so be it."

Raising the trident, he aimed it high above and released a jet of fire. The girls cried out in alarm, covering their heads as the blast shot out of the water, hitting the roof of the secret cave; the overhanging stone was shattered into an avalanche of rubble and dust. The cave collapsed, burying the tiny cove and everything in it. There was no passage between the sea and shore that way now.

When the dust settled, Triton returned to his stern composure. "From now on, I forbid you to come near this place. You will never see that human again. Now, come home; I suggest we all forget this whole thing and get back to everyday life." Turning, he conducted his daughters back to Atlantica.

Andrina refused to speak or look at any of them on the journey back; she would not allow her father the satisfaction of seeing her undone. When they reached the castle of Atlantica once again, she kept her head up, not looking any of her sisters in the eye, and headed straight for their room. On the way up, she was stopped by Adella's hand on her shoulder.

"Andrina, I'm so sorry," she whispered, her voice tight. "This is all my fault; I should have been more careful—"

"It's okay," said Andrina steadily, with some effort.

She made to go on, but Adella still clung to her. "No, really, I—"

"Just go," was all Andrina could get out. Adella's hand fell limply to her side, and Andrina continued up to the bedroom.

Only once she was safely within the comfort of her own room did she let the tears come. Burying her face in her pillow, she pulled the necklace from around her neck and held it close. The full weight of the situation finally came crashing down on her. Henry. He was gone; probably forever now. He would arrive tomorrow and wonder what great calamity took place. He might search the surrounding area for her, but he'd never find her; and she would never see him again. Her shroud had been buried in the cave (along with Adella's belt; small loss there); the pendant was the last thing she had to remember him by.

Back downstairs, Triton approached the rest of his daughters. "Girls, I'm sorry it's come to this, but because of your actions, you're all confined to the palace for a few days."

Attina and Adella looked especially guilty, their eyes fixed on the ground. All their spirits were low; only Ariel was still capable of raising her voice enough to ask, "What about Andrina?"

Triton's jaw hardened. "She and all of you are never to wander beyond the kingdom's border again; is that clear?"

There was a general murmur of "Yes, sir." Ariel dared to cast him one last angry look before putting her back to him.

The sisters filed in sad procession into a small room just off the main hall. Arista was the first to voice the general opinion: "Well, so much for that."

"Poor Andrina, though!" sighed Aquata, glancing at the door leading upstairs. "I hope she'll be okay."

"He's never going to let her out of the palace again," said Alana gloomily.

Ariel gave an exasperated sigh. "Why does he always have to be so stubborn about everything?"

Adella was on the verge of tears. "I'm so sorry, guys; this is all my fault."

"It's everyone's fault," soothed Attina gently, rubbing her back in a motherly fashion. "We're all equally responsible."

"It's no one's fault but his," ejaculated Ariel bitterly. "Him and his stupid rules; they ruin everything!"

"Come on, Ariel," Attina reproved wearily. "At least try to understand where he's coming from. We all know why he does this."

"That doesn't give him the right to do that to her!" Ariel angrily lashed her tail. "She's in love, and now she'll never get to see him again? It's not fair!"

"Life is rarely fair," commented Aquata. "The real question is, now what?"

They gazed round at one another, hoping for a ready solution. No one had any.

"Should we check on her?" ventured Arista at length.

Attina shook her head. "Not now; just give her some space for a while."

Ariel leaned against the wall, twirling her fingers through her hair. "It's not going to make things any better."

At the end of a quarter hour, Andrina had essentially cried herself out. She roused herself long enough to get up and move to the window, staring blankly out into the sea, still clinging to her necklace. She felt as if she had a rock stuck in her throat, and her heart was as heavy as stone.

What was she to do now? How could she possibly go back to her old life after everything she'd learned; everything she'd felt? Her father had evidently assumed she would somehow be able to live this down; what if she couldn't?

A sudden resentment against Triton suddenly burst to life in her. He was wrong about humans, and she had proved him wrong, and so he tried to crush her joy in the revelation. Well, she would prove to him that she could not be kept back. The cave was gone, but there were other beaches. Somehow, she had to find Henry again.

But how? She couldn't exactly lay out on the sand somewhere and wait for him to show up. And it wasn't as if she could simply sprout legs and go look for him herself.

Ah, but _could_ she?

A cold chill seeped through her as she became suddenly aware of an old, faded memory of dark tales told of the ocean's depths when she was a girl. There had been a legend of a mysterious person with great magic, strong enough to rival the sea king's. But surely, those had been only stories, made up to keep merchildren away from the sea trenches.

A hissing current passed by the window, setting the corals trembling and rustling, almost as if they were whispering to her. Andrina suppressed a shudder, wavering. In that moment, her father's face came again into her thoughts, and she made up her mind then and there. Certainly, there would be no harm in looking, just to see for herself; anything was better than staying here. So, setting her necklace in place, she swam carefully out of the window and headed north, towards the first of the great ridges that skirted the nearest ravine. Perhaps she would find her greatest help in the powers of the legendary Ursula.


	8. Chapter Eight

_**Eight**_

The dark lair of the sea witch was unmistakable at a glance; a great, cavernous fossil of some ancient, prehistoric marine animal long vanished from the world. Hollowed out by the waves of time, it was crusted over with barnacles and residue from the ocean. Volcanic spouts spattered the landscape, spewing clouds of bubbling steam and ash. The stench of sulfur hung thick in the water.

Andrina knew at once that this had to be the place; it was exactly as it had been described to her in the stories their old governess had told them as children. Marina had taken some pleasure in telling those sorts of tales after dark, then leaving them to meditate on them when they went to bed. None of them would admit it, but Mr. Fuzzyfinkle had been a well beloved companion for such hours; Arista had kept a jar of glowfish by her bed until she was thirteen. Even now, more than once, Andrina had checked over her shoulder, half imagining some strange entity was following her.

Still, a creepy atmosphere didn't necessarily imply a resident witch. She hesitated, debating whether or not to go on, when she caught sight of movement on her left. A couple of long, thin things like loose seaweed were drifting in her direction, but they didn't move like drifting seaweed; they waved and rippled mysteriously, gliding along with an eerie grace. When they drew nearer, Andrina suppressed a shudder; they were eels.

The two eels casually floated to her, slowly circling around her, sizing her up. With a thrill of horror, Andrina noted they each had a yellow eye, glazed and unblinking, that followed her every movement.

"Well, well," speculated one in a soft, slithery voice. "What have we here?"

"A little mergirl who's lost her way," hissed the other, flashing her a toothy grin.

"A bit out of your depth, are you, dear?" the first inquired, gliding behind her, its slimy skin just barely brushing against her back.

Andrina grimaced, then grew stern. "I'm looking for Ursula."

"My, my," purred the eel, sounding surprised. "One does not always find someone brave enough to seek out the sea witch on their own advice."

"Might we ask what business you have with her?" asked the other, slithering around her.

"That's for me to discuss with her," said Andrina stiffly, gingerly avoiding contact with the creature. "Do you where she is?"

Both eels let out hissy chuckles. "Of course," one hissed, its yellow eye winking languidly in her direction. "We can show you; this way." Then, both turned and began gliding slowly down, down to the hulking fossil at the ocean floor. Warily, Andrina glanced over her shoulder, seeing nothing but a swarm of bubbles, then followed, tightly clutching her pendant to her heart.

The enormous skull served as the entrance to the cavern within; its gaping mouth yawned leeringly at them, almost grinning, as if waiting to snap shut on an unsuspecting tail. Andrina carefully avoided focusing on any of its features, concentrating on her mission to find the witch. However, once past the menacing jaws, the sight of the floor of the cave took her off guard. Hundreds of short, writhing plants covered the insides of the mouth; plants, perhaps, but plants with faces. They howled and shrieked, wailing up at her as she swam over them as if in warning; _Turn back, turn back_. Keeping her arms wrapped tightly about herself, out of their groping reach, she continued onward, trying to keep her mind on the thought of Henry. She must go through with it, if she ever wanted to see him again; she must go on for Henry.

The eels were far ahead, now out of sight. A larger space opened within the belly of the beast; it was fashioned into some sort of living quarters. A rosy, pink glow emanated from luminescent jellyfish drifting through the room. Now, Andrina halted on the threshold; the room seemed empty, apart from the jellyfish. Where were those eels?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a melodious voice. "Come in; come in, my child. We mustn't lurk in doorways; it's rude."

Out from the darkness of a vesicle on the end of the room, several long, black snakes unfurled, lifting the bulk of their mistress from her private quarters. It was the witch; Ursula herself. Through her dark magic arts, she had fashioned her own body into that of a great, black squid, her massive girth yielding to it the effect of a large, bloated creature, stooped with age and glut. Nonetheless, she moved with an ease that rivaled even the grace of the sea butterfly.

"Well, well, well," she drawled elegantly, "look who's come to call. A princess from the noble court! Now, that is a spectacle, indeed."

Andrina stared for a full five seconds before she realized her mouth was open. Rapidly closing it, she entered, watching Ursula daintily seat herself before her vanity. "Now, my dear, what brings you to my humble abode?"

Andrina squared her shoulders, taking a last deep breath. "I want you to make me human."

Ursula laughed. "My, my; there must be a real whopper of a tale behind this. May I ask why?"

"It—it's nothing much, really," said Andrina, faltering, unsure of how much she ought to tell.

"Well, it certainly wouldn't be 'nothing' if you came all the way out here to ask," chuckled Ursula, running her fingers through her hair. She slid Andrina a sly glance in the mirror. "I don't think it's something your father would approve of."

The remembrance of Triton's disapproving glare hardened Andrina's resolve. "Yep, and that's exactly why I came to you."

"Oh, it seems I've struck a nerve," mused the sea witch, her smile widening. "Do tell."

Before she could give her mind a chance to regret it, Andrina forced out, "I've fallen in love with a human prince."

Ursula could not maintain her expression of serene indifference at this; her surprise was clearly visible. "Oh, really? Congratulations, darling; you have the honor of being the first person to surprise me in a long time. That's certainly one I've never heard before." Turning, she flashed the mermaid with a sickly sweet smile. "And I'm sure your father was less than thrilled? Oh, I understand perfectly, angelfish; really, I do. But not to worry; you don't know how many steadfast hearts I've managed to reunite in the end."

Rising, the sea witch drifted lazily over to a large projection in the middle of the room. Andrina's first thought was that it was a table, but when Ursula waved a hand over it, it opened of its own accord into a large bowl that glowed with its own, pink iridescence.

"Now, here's the deal," said the witch, drawing her close with one of her sucker-covered tentacles. "This potion will turn you into a human for as long as it takes dear old Princie to fall in love with you. That is, he's got to kiss you. Not just any kiss, either; the kiss of true love."

"How do I know what that's like?" asked Andrina, gently removing the slimy tentacle from around her shoulder.

"Well, I'm sure you'll know it when you get it," Ursula leered cheerfully. "It's when you don't focus on how it feels, rather than how much you love each other. My point is," she rattled on, "if he does kiss you, you'll remain human permanently. But if he doesn't, you eventually turn back into a mermaid. If you fail, you belong to me."

Andrina grew rather alarmed; that hadn't been part of her calculations. "What does that mean?"

Ursula shrugged dismissively. "It simply means you stay here forever; it's been quite a while since my last housekeeper."

Andrina hesitated, wondering if this was really worth the risk. But she was in quite over her head now already; she might as well take it. Still, she inquired suspiciously, "How long is 'eventually'?"

"Oh, I don't know," Ursula replied as she took some rather unsightly ingredients out from a small alcove on the wall. "Let's say, if he happens to find someone else to fall in love with instead. He won't be thinking about kissing you then."

"Oh." Andrina's heart gave a lurch; she hadn't given that idea much thought. What if there was someone else that he hadn't told her about?

"Sound reasonable to you?" asked Ursula, unstopping various jars and dumping the contents into her cauldron. A fizzing bubbling began to stir within it, staining the water with clouds of dark, inky froth. "Just in case, I'll give you some breathing room to try and win him back. If he falls in love with someone else, and you can't win him back before the sun sets on the third day, the spell will end."

Andrina bit her lip, anxiety beginning to creep into her head. Thinking hard, she debated whether or not Henry could be in love with someone else; he'd never given any sign of it when they were together. The way his eyes shone when he looked at her, his confident smile…

"Oh, and there is one more thing," continued Ursula, tossing more odds and ends into her potion mix. "We haven't discussed the method of payment. You can't get something for nothing, you know." She leaned casually over her cauldron, leering at her. "So, got anything worth my while?"

Andrina frowned. "I'm already giving you my service if I fail. What more do you want?"

"Yes, _if_ you fail," Ursula corrected. "Don't be so hard on yourself, darling. And if your question is, 'Am I getting two things out of this?', well, you are getting two legs, aren't you? I'm not asking much; just a small token; merely a trifle. How about your pretty little charm?" She flicked a tentacle at Andrina's necklace.

Andrina instinctively put a hand over it, edging away. "Oh, no, not this; I can't. He gave me this; he might be upset if I just gave it away. I can't just—"

"Oh, have no fear, darling," Ursula cooed sweetly, sliding around to hover in front of Andrina. "I'll take good care of it. He won't even miss it; the men up there hardly notice that sort of thing, trust me."

The bubble within the cauldron had risen to a steady roil, jets of blue steam clouding the water. The pink glow from the cauldron slowly faded to blue as thick, rather sticky-sweet smell rose slowly, underlined with the faint odor of brimstone. Ursula drifted to and fro between Andrina and her potion, throwing in strange, bizarre elements from odd corners of her abode. Finally, Ursula held out her hand, holding up a long scroll that blazed with golden light.

"If you want to cross a bridge, my sweet, you must pay the toll," prompted the witch, smiling widely. She extended her other hand to her, this one holding up a bright, shining pen. "Have we got a deal?"

One last time, Andrina went over the facts. The stakes were high; very high, and there was almost a certainty of no return either way. If she became human, she'd never see her family again; if she lost Henry, she'd be enslaved to a witch for the rest of her life. The only other option was to go back, and the thought of her father assured her there was no way she was doing that. Now here she was, standing upon the threshold, asking the final dreaded question: was Henry worth it?

"Deal," she said at last. Taking a gulp, she caught up the pen and signed her name.

The scroll emitted a blinding flash, illuminating Ursula's fierce smile of triumph, then vanished in smoke as the witch closed her fist upon it. Then, waving her empty hands over the roiling cauldron, Ursula began uttering words in some mysterious, unknown tongue. Gouts of hot, greenish light and smoke spurted out from the cauldron, tiny, molten flecks rocketing up to the ceiling in a shower of simmering bubbles.

Turning back to Andrina, the witch held out a hand. "The necklace, please."

Slowly, Andrina lifted it from around her neck, gazing at the tiny shell pendant as it glistened in the flickering light. Running a finger over its glossy surface, she handed it to the sea witch. Grinning madly, Ursula took it and hung it about her own neck. It was done.

Cackling wildly, Ursula flung out her hand over the potion, directing it with a gesture. A great, sulfurous bubble rose up out of the cauldron, enveloping Andrina. She was caught up in the midst of the storm, seized with a burning pain she had never felt before; a tingling, stretching sensation that set her insides afire. It felt as if some invisible giant was pulling on her fins, slowly ripping her in half. The feeling spread through her; her lungs were filled with acrid smoke and hot, burning fumes. But it wasn't only smoke; it was _water_ ; scalding water, boiling down into her, filling her ears, blurring her vision. Her arms flailed wildly, uselessly; she couldn't see, couldn't breathe; she was suffocating, drowning …

Unseen arms seized her. A powerful force dragged her upward, pushing beyond the heat and noise. The shock of cold tore through her body, just as oppressive as the heat had been. And still, there was nothing to breath; her lungs were suctioned shut, her head was getting light, she was about to die—

Then her head broke the surface. Cold, pure, crystal air came rushing into her as she shot high above the waves. She filled her lungs to bursting, then sank limply down into the arms of Adella, who pulled her onward towards the shore. The sea was calm, glistening under a bright sun in the hazy, afternoon sky.


	9. Chapter Nine

_**Nine**_

The day was fair and warm, a mild breeze occasionally stirring the long, sea grasses. Just around the shoulder of the rocky coast, between it and the shipping harbor, lay a strip of sandy beach, spattered with boulders. Many rocks stuck up out of the water, uncovered by the tide, along with much beach residue: bits of wood, rope, and sail canvas, bottles, and other paraphernalia discarded or forgotten by humans.

At the edge of the beach, in a little rocky enclosing, Andrina lay across a large, flat rock, clinging to it for dear life and gasping raggedly. Beside her sat Adella, holding her hand and rubbing her back, having just recovered from hysterics. "Why did you do it, Andrina?"

Andrina gave a raspy cough. "Why were you following me?"

"I didn't want you getting hurt," sniffed Adella indignantly. "And aren't you glad I did? You could have died!" She buried her face in her hands. "Oh, this is all my fault!"

"No, it's not; you're such a drama queen," panted Andrina, pushing herself up into a sitting position, leaning against the cool, slick rock.

It was then that she noticed the strange, crooked things poking up out of the water just in front of her. She didn't quite register what they were until one of them moved; with a sudden thrill, she realized they were her legs.

Legs. She had legs now. Staring open-mouthed, she slowly raised one into the air. One, long, skinny leg, complete with its attached foot, ending in five separate, individual toes.

Adella stared incredulously as Andrina wiggled her new foot back and forth. "What… what are _those_?"

"Legs," said Andrina, a slow, wide smile beginning to spread across her face. "I have legs now." She put a hand over her mouth, giggling with excitement as the full revelation of this new experience sank in. "I have _human legs_!"

Adella's expression was of utter horror. "Oh, Andrina!"

Still riding the height of her euphoria, Andrina made a scramble to struggle to her feet. There was a great deal of wobble to her new knees, and she hadn't risen far before she tripped and fell with a splash. The second try proved more successful; she kept her balance by clinging to the rocks until she was at least used to standing.

Adella made no effort to help in this, still mortified. "Andrina, how could you?"

"How could I not?" Andrina retorted, taking a shaky step, stumbling over the slippery stones. "Daddy pushed me, so I pushed back. And I am so not sorry." A second faulty step brought her onto her knees and taught her the experience of a banged shin against a rock, but she was too pleased to dwell on that much at the moment. "This is amazing!"

"What's amazing is that you did it at all!" cried Adella, circling round to face her. As stricken as she was, curiosity soon bested her. "How—how does it feel?"

"It's so weird," said Andrina, laughing a little. "It's kind of like having two smaller tails, but also nothing like anything I've ever felt before at all." Once more, she slipped, this time landing nearly flat on her back. "I'm still kind of getting the hang of it," she admitted, pushing herself up again.

Adella watched with fascinated disapproval. "It looks so awkward."

"It is!" cried Andrina happily, splashing through the surf. Finally, she got her feet under her and stood up, straight as a rod, glistening wet in the sun. "Now, then; I'll probably need to find some more clothes-things." Glancing around, she searched for another piece of sail canvas. It was strange how not having a tail suddenly made her so much more aware of the humans' desire for covering. Not only that, but after being wet, the gentle wind was making her rather chilly.

With a sigh of resignation, Adella held up a rented strip of sail she discovered on the nearby beach. "Here."

"Perfect." Andrina wrapped it about her waist. It wasn't quite as big as the old one, but it did its job just fine. Satisfied, she waded through the shallows and out onto the sand, pausing to face her sister. "Thanks for your help. Oh, and you cannot tell anyone where I am; and I mean _any_ one, okay?"

"What will you do now?" asked Adella anxiously, nearly beaching herself in her effort to follow as far as she could.

Andrina marched more steadily across the sand; her legs were starting to warm up now. "I'm going to find Henry."

That was much more easily said than done. Fortunately, she hadn't gone far before she got to a wide road, with two, deep grooves in it, evidently well travelled. Glancing down each way, she discovered that left the road ran down back towards the coast, while to the right it sloped upwards through a few hills. At the top, she thought she could see a faint glimmer of the sun striking a high tower. There must be a castle up there; a _human_ castle, no less.

Plucking up courage, Andrina followed the road in that direction, taking care to keep behind the hills on the right side, not wanting to find out what any other humans might think at the sight of a strange girl half-dressed walking along the road. Still, even if she was seen, she hardly felt she could really mind; she was now on her way to see a human city; she was _walking_ , on legs, towards the place where the humans lived! It was all quite a thrilling experience.

After about ten minutes or so, she was growing rather tired; as incredible as it was, walking up and down all that way was really much harder than it looked at first. She had to admit, she had taken some aspects of underwater life for granted; under the sea, anything in the way could be easily swam around; here, on land, it had to be climbed over. Her lungs were beginning to hurt from shortness of breath, and she felt a cramp building up in her side. As eager as she was, she soon had to sit down and rest for a bit.

As she sat at the base of one of the numerous hills, she glanced up at the sight of a funny little cloud coming from over the next rise. It was very dark, and it didn't blow along with the rest of the clouds, but went straight up into the air from the ground. Getting up, she made towards it, walking round the base of the hill rather than trying to scale it; partly because she was tired and didn't want to bother climbing it, and partly because she didn't want to be seen in case anyone was nearby.

What she saw was a very small, funny-looking thing, square shaped, and sitting on a flat, level space nested between two hills. The little black cloud was coming from the top of it, much like steam from a vent near the ocean floor. There were other things, too; long, floppy things waving in the breeze, suspended from something in the air. And there was a woman; a human woman, whistling lightly, hanging more of these things in the air. Andrina watched with fascination, realizing that she must be looking at her first human dwelling place; a "house," as Henry had called it.

Creeping closer, she watched as the woman went through an opening in the house (that must be the door) and vanished from sight. Darting behind a large, round, wooden thing by the sharp corner of the house, she gazed up at the things hanging from apparently nothing. Now that she was nearer, she saw there were two long things that stood straight up, and between them was a long, very thin string, from which the things hung. Closer inspection revealed that they were human clothes. There were some little white things, a larger white square, another, longer square with two long parts hanging down from it, and a long, brown thing, rather like the thing Henry wore, except thinner and longer.

Andrina had to duck as the human woman came back out of the house, carrying a large bowl-thing filled with more human clothes. She was humming a tune that Andrina had never heard before, about something called a nightingale. Andrina had no idea what a nightingale was, but the song was sweet and gentle; she fell in love with it at once. Looking the woman over more carefully, she saw that the woman's clothes were much different from Henry's; she had on something like the long, brown thing that was hanging up.

From inside the house, there suddenly came a baby's wail, along with a child's voice calling, "Mother!" The woman stopped, halfway through hanging up her things, and went back inside, yelling to her children in a much different sort of voice than she'd been humming in. Andrina waited until she'd gone inside, then made a dash for the clothes. Trying not to think of how wrong it was, she snatched the long, brown thing off the string and ran as fast as she could around the nearest hill. She could always find the place again, and resolved to compensate the woman for her loss as soon as she could.

Once she'd gotten far enough ahead to be a little more at ease with herself, she examined her find. It was a lot like her old wrap, with the addition of a top part with long holes for the arms. One side of the hole where presumably the head was supposed to go was taller than the other; which side was supposed to go in front? The only way to find out was to try and get it on and see. Taking into account the size of both openings, she soon reasoned that this must be done over her head, which she did accordingly. Soon, she had found through trial and error that the high part of the thing must be in the back of it, as it rose a little too high for comfort in the front. Once she had situated herself in it, she understood its fit; it was almost as if it had grown off of her. Greatly pleased, she discarded the scrap of sail, leaving it hidden in the grass, and continued on her way towards the human castle, now looking less than unusual.

The town, once she finally got to it, was nothing like she'd ever seen in her life. There were many more of the houses, larger and closer together. Humans were walking about among them, talking and laughing together. The road, which was dirt, grew smoother and more worn, with lots of little roads branching off of it towards the houses. It was similar enough to Atlantica for Andrina to grasp the idea of their functions, but it was just as fascinating to see in real life. Human men pushing large box-things on skinny wheels, shouts, songs and loud voices, strange, bright colored, lumpy things hanging from store windows; all was a thrilling whirl of festive sounds and sights and smells. And far, far ahead, overlooking the whole country, a tall, bright castle stood, shining in the sun.

Andrina was elated, staring openly at everything; this was far more exciting than she could possibly have imagined. At the moment, she felt no regret for her actions, and almost no hurry to find Henry just yet. She ogled the storefronts just as much as she'd teased Alana for doing, tempted to but refraining from running her fingers through trays of strange, wonderful oddities.

It was here in the market that she also got her first real shock: with a thunderous noise, a huge animal came storming down the road, pulling a large, square monstrosity behind it. Andrina remembered something about what carriages were for, but had never seen a horse in her life, so she was quite taken aback by the stamping hooves, jingling harnesses, and snorting and whinnying.

By and by, she decided to brave asking someone about the prince. While looking at some odd ornaments on one shopkeeper's stand, she said casually, "Fancy stuff you got here."

The man looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "No more than usual; bread's as good for you as me. You new around here?"

"Uh, yeah," she answered slowly, picking up a hunk of the stuff called "bread" and poking at white part once or twice; it was rather like a soft rock, or a sea sponge. Cautiously, she tapped the hard, brown end of it on the counter; tiny bits crumbled off of it like sand.

"Hey!" The man took back the bread, placing it back on the stack. "Don't spoil me wares."

"Sorry." Andrina folded her hands up to her chest. "So, would this be the kingdom where a certain prince lives?"

The man shot her a curious glance. "I reckon there's many a kingdom where a prince lives." He pointed towards the castle in the distance. "The one up there's called Prince Charming, by some. That who you meant?"

Andrina nodded. "That's the one. Thank you." With a last look at the bread, she headed up the road.

"You're not looking to meet him, are ye?" the man called after her, chuckling. "Fancy the likes of you, sporting with the likes of him!"

Andrina cast him a smile. "Oh, yeah, real funny. I'll tell him you said hi." Giving him a cheery wave, she continued on her way through the market of human anomalies, humming the little tune about the nightingale as she went.


	10. Chapter Ten

_**Ten**_

By the time Andrina actually got close enough to the castle to see the gates, is was very late in the day. Despite the fact that the towers and spires rose high above the rest of the town, it was quite a long ways off from where she'd come in. As she had none of those things that the rest of the humans were wearing on their feet; "shoes," as she'd noted on a sign outside a shop selling them; her own new feet were very thoroughly worked on the stony street. She'd grown rather hot and out of breath over her long march, and had discovered the new sensation of a stubbed toe more than once. At last, at half past two, she stumbled up, dusty and sweating, to the feet of the high gates.

Now, she met her first real obstacle: how was she to get in? She'd finally made it to Henry's actual home only to be stopped just outside. Even craning her neck as far as she could, she could barely see the tops of the highest turrets. It was so much different from the castle in Atlantica; if she'd been back home, she could just as easily swim up to the windows one by one, searching for Henry's room. Judging by the guards posted on the walls and by the gates, she could clearly see that the human royals didn't let just anyone enter the courts; her dismay deepened when she looked down at her dust-covered clothes, muddy feet, and shabby appearance. Her walk through town had shown her the humans' idea of fancy clothes, and she was definitely not it.

Her next thought was to look for a side entrance or a servant's door; there were such things in Atlantica, so why not here? Perhaps she could be mistaken for a servant herself and slip inside that way. Walking round the edge of the wall brought her to a small but distinct pathway leading to a broad, short step next to some sort of human contraption with a wooden bowl hanging from the handle by a sort of strap attached to it. The contraption was dripping water from one end, and next to it was a very small door, covered up with a piece of wood.

With a cautious glance at the gate guards, who apparently hadn't noticed her presence at all, Andrina crept over to this door, keeping close to the wall to avoid being seen. She had just reached the step when the wooden panel opened outwards, almost smacking her as it swung out. Peering round it, Andrina saw a human girl, dressed in simple clothes, and holding another of the round bowl-things, which was filled with dirty water. This she flung into the street, then set the bowl under the contraption that dripped water and began pulling on a long bar hooked to the other side. Out of the thing, clean, crystal water began pouring, filling the bowl-thing until it was nearly full. Then the girl stopped pulling the bar, picked up her bowl, and went back inside, pulling the wooden panel closed behind her.

Now understanding the functions of the bowl, the contraption, and the door panel, Andrina knew what to do. Catching hold of the edge of the door cover so that it wouldn't close, she stuck one of her dirty legs under the contraption, reached over, and began pulling the bar, just as she'd seen the other girl doing. It was hard work, but water soon washed her leg clean, and then the other. Drying them on the skirt of her clothes, Andrina then slipped through the door and let the panel close again.

Inside, it was almost pitch black. She now stood in a sort of entryway to another, larger, well-lit room, bustling with activity. Many humans were hurrying through it, carrying things and shouting at one another. In the midst of the rush, a tall, thin woman with a rather pinched expression was barking orders at everybody. The place was hot and hazy beneath a thick blanket of steam.

Andrina hovered by the doorway, wondering what to do next. Before she could decide, the woman caught sight of her in the doorway and marched towards her with a very cross look on her face.

"And what do you think you're doing?" she inquired stiffly. "One of the new maids for hire, I presume? Well, come along and let me show you your duties." She stared at Andrina's damp skirt and bare feet. "Is that… all you have with you?"

Stepping out of the shadows, Andrina nodded. "Um, yep; this is it."

The woman sniffed disapprovingly. "Well, you can fetch something out of the maid's closet when we go up. I daresay you've come from a very poor household; you'll be needing whatever work you can get. Come along." Without another word of explanation, she turned and hustled off. Andrina followed, trying not to smile as she wondered what this woman would think of her if she really did know where she came from.

Even the servant's parts of the castle seemed large and alluring to Andrina, who had never quite understood what human dwelling places were like. She'd been wondering why the human castle was so tall if they could never get from floor to floor without any way to swim up; she was now treated to the human novelty of "stairs," as the woman called them.

"You'll be working mostly upstairs," she told Andrina, "but the sleeping chambers are down here. You will be attending the Lady Tremaine and her daughters; you are to carry up their breakfasts in the morning, and carry away the things when they are finished, you will bring their sewing, mending, and laundry down to the washroom each day, make sure everything is clean and tidy, keep up with the dusting, sweeping, and mopping, and you must mind whatever they tell you to do in the meanwhile. Other than this, you are to keep out of the way and do as you're told."

Andrina was mildly confused by the sudden rush of new information she had to grasp, but nodded. "Okay. Um, what's your name, by the way?"

"You may call me Mistress Prudence," the woman replied, not looking at her or changing her stiff demeanor. "If you have any further questions, you may ask me. Here is the closet for the maids," she announced, leading her into a small chamber down a side hall. Andrina recognized well enough what a closet was, and found several clothes like the ones she had on hanging up in it, as well as several human shoes, set together in pairs in two tidy rows.

"You are not to go barefoot about the palace," Mistress Prudence told her, rather severely. "It is highly improper. And above all, you must never enter the presence of any member of the noble family unless bidden."

Andrina looked up, startled. That was not something she was familiar with; in Atlantica, the merfolk were free to visit with members of the royal family as they liked. Well, she would just have to find some way round that rule. "Gotcha," she affirmed, glancing over the rows of shiny, black shoes. Which ones should she take? They all looked exactly the same; how was she supposed to tell?

Mistress Prudence cleared her throat pointedly. "We haven't all day, you know."

"Oh, sorry." Andrina selected a pair at random, stepping into them. They were rather large, and did not fit very comfortably. A moment's examination showed that she had them on the wrong feet; she had never considered the idea that a set of human feet were different from each other. Once that was confirmed, the shoes felt much better, though still roughly too big.

Mistress Prudence seemed moderately satisfied, at least saying nothing about it. "Come along, then." Turning, she marched across the hallway, Andrina keeping close behind, with some difficulty. The bottoms of her new shoes were smooth and flat, making it hard to walk across the hard, slippery floors. Presently, however, Mistress Prudence turned down another passage, the floor of which was covered with a soft, squishy substance rather like algae, except it was a dark blue and very dry.

"This is the hall where you will be attending to the Lady and Misses Tremaine," the mistress informed her. "Aside from carrying in the breakfasts, you are not to enter their rooms unless bidden to do so. At the moment, there is nothing to be done yet." She hurried through so quickly that Andrina barely had time to notice the lavish richness of the place. The walls were blue and gold, with strange, colored drawings of humans hanging from them. They were large enough that she couldn't help wondering if they would simply get up and step out into the hall. She'd have lingered longer, but Mistress Prudence did not alter her pace, going to a white panel in the wall with a round, yellow thing sticking off of it. Andrina watched in fascination as the mistress grabbed the yellow thing, turned it sharply to one side, and pushed against it, and the whole panel swung forward to reveal a doorway into a smaller, much darker passage beyond.

"This is how you will be coming and going between this hall and the servant's," continued Mistress Prudence, guiding her through the dingy passageway. "You are not permitted to linger about in the open halls, so I suggest you get a feel for the servant's passageways now. Remember, the best behaved servant is neither seen nor heard."

 _They sure have a lot of rules_ , Andrina thought to herself. To the mistress, she said, "I'll do my best."

Mistress Prudence threw her a sharp look. "You'd better do twice as good as your 'best.' Speak only when you're spoken to, do everything you're told, and keep out of the way the rest of the time."

Biting back a snarky remark, Andrina followed the mistress through the passage. There were lots and lots of stairs here, very rickety, sharp, and narrow, creaking as if ready to collapse with every step.

Mistress Prudence led her through several other rooms on the way through the servants' halls. One was hot and steamy, with lots and lots of human clothes and large, white things like very, very thin sails hanging everywhere. Another room, not so hot, had many women sitting at tables and doing something odd to the clothes, sticking them full of thin, sharp, silver spikes like the spines of a sea urchin. Andrina tried to memorize the way as she went; down one stair and up another, through a set of rooms that had large, metal human figures standing in a row, left and then right, until she had the feeling they'd been going in circles. She was relieved when Mistress Prudence opened another door and revealed they were back in the kitchen again.

"As this is your first day, we won't expect you to do much," she told Andrina. "At the moment, I suggest you get settled in. Ellie can show you the servant's quarters." Snapping her fingers, she waved to one of the maids. The maid, a fair, pleasant-looking girl, skipped lightly over, flashing a bright smile at Andrina. "Show her up to the servant's chambers," Mistress Prudence instructed her. Her job done, the woman turned and walked away.

"Good day to you," greeted Ellie cheerfully, pulling on the sides of her human skirt and bobbing down in something like a funny sort of bow. "Well, just follow me; I'll show you where we get to sleep." Turning, she tripped lightly off, Andrina trailing just behind.

"So, what do they call you?' asked Ellie over her shoulder.

"I'm Andrina," Andrina told her, panting slightly. The euphoria of her new legs was beginning to wear off; she was wondering when, if ever, she would get to a place to sit down and rest.

Ellie glanced at her, wrinkling her nose a little. "Rather funny sort of name, isn't it?"

"Not nearly as funny as 'Ellie,'" remarked Andrina, halting at the corner. There was a cramp in her side, probably from all the walking, so she leaned against the wall to catch her breath.

Ellie didn't seem to mind in the least, dropping back beside her. "So, where are you from?"

"Near the beach," said Andrina truthfully.

"Is that why you have that?" Ellie pointed to Andrina's pink-shell hair comb. "I've never been to the sea before," she went on, not waiting for an answer. "I've seen a glimpse of it, now and then, of course, but I've never actually been right down to it. Is it very big? Have you ever seen any fish?"

"Lots," answered Andrina, nodding. "The salmon and the bass are all right, but the carp can be pretty obnoxious in the morning."

Ellie looked at her queerly. "Do you mean when out fishing? Have you ever been fishing?"

"Oh, no," objected Andrina, rather horrified at the idea. Checking herself, she added, "My, uh, brother has, though. He's shown me a few things about it."

They went through one of the halls Andrina had seen before, then around another corner to a little side-hall lined with more door-covering-panels, all of which were closed. "These are the maids' quarters," Ellie informed her, pulling a panel open and revealing a tidy, rather bare little room with two small beds, dresser, and small table with a large, queer object on it. Opening the top drawer of the dresser, Ellie brought out a tiny packet filled with little sticks with red heads. Andrina wasn't quite sure how she did it, but Ellie pulled off one of the sticks, rubbed it very fast against the side of the packet, and lo! with a flash and a crackle, a tiny flame erupted on the end of the stick. Andrina could hardly help letting out a small gasp of surprise.

Apparently, this was quite an average phenomenon, for Ellie didn't bat an eye, but put the burning end of the stick into the strange device, and another tiny flame sprang to life inside of it. In another moment, the room was filled with light. "This is where I sleep. You can stay here with me, if you like."

"Thank you," said Andrina, carefully sitting down on one of the beds. It was not very comfortable; rather hard, but very springy. Andrina bounced on it once or twice, then put up her feet.

Ellie smiled, setting the strange fire-holder back on the table. "I'll let you get settled in; I've got to go. Just blow out the light when you leave." With that, she hurried off, leaving Andrina to ponder all the amazing human wonders of the day.

.

The darkness was deepening as night fell over the kingdom of Atlantica. In the palace, the king sat on his throne, gazing anxiously at the door. He started up as one of his seahorse heralds entered and swam up. "Any sign of her?"

The seahorse shook his head. "No, you Majesty. We've searched everywhere, but we've found no trace of your daughter."

Triton clenched his jaw. "Well, keep looking. Leave no shell unturned, no coral unexplored. Let no one in this kingdom sleep until she's safe at home."

"Yes, sire," the herald sighed, hurrying off once more.

King Triton sat back in his chair again, his face in his hands. "Oh, what have I done? What have I done?"


	11. Chapter Eleven

_**Eleven**_

Andrina did not actually get to see much else of the palace until the following day; as her explorations were limited to the servants' halls, she hadn't really been out and around much. The night was not unpleasant, but the incessant squeaking of her new bed kept her up for some time. Before long, however, she had sunk into a peaceful slumber.

It was at about six in the morning when she was awoken by such a clamor and rushing that she sprang out of bed in an instant. For a moment, she had no recollection of where she was; it was still dark, there was a very unfamiliar sensation running through the lower half of her body, and someone was shouting at the top of their lungs.

"Everybody up!" A glow of yellow light suddenly burst in as the door cover was flung back; a strange woman peered into the room, holding a flickering flame on a white stick she carried. "Let's go, ladies! No time to waste!" Without any other explanation, she hustled away, still hollering and carrying on.

From the bed opposite, Ellie sat up, yawning and stretching. "Bless me, I have had a night! Well, up and at 'em!" Flashing Andrina a bright smile, she got up and proceeded to dress herself behind a screen in the corner.

Now that she was awake, the rest of the previous day came back to Andrina in a flash. She rubbed her eyes, hardly able to keep her wits about her; she could barely comprehend why or how Ellie was suddenly putting on different clothes than the ones she'd had on in bed. It suddenly occurred to her that she still had on her own clothes from yesterday, which were not in quite as good a condition they'd started in yesterday.

Ellie glanced at her, seeming to come to the same understanding. "Is… is that all you have to wear?"

Andrina shrugged. "Yeah; I was kind of in a rush to get here."

"Oh, you poor thing!" cried Ellie sympathetically, her arms going out to her. "Don't worry; I'll make sure you at least get a nightgown. And an extra dress, so you'll have something clean for tomorrow."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," protested Andrina.

"It's no trouble, really," Ellie insisted lightly. "In the meantime, you can borrow one of mine." Pulling open a large drawer in the dresser, she withdrew another long garment, similar to the one she now wore, and handed it to Andrina. "I always have an extra or two clean and mended, for just such an occasion."

"I don't know how to thank you," said Andrina.

"Don't mention it," Ellie chattered on cheerfully. "So, do you have your position yet? I'm usually helping in the kitchens and dining hall all day. Where will you be working?"

"For the Tremaines, or so I was told," Andrina replied, taking shelter behind the screen to change.

Ellie gasped, staring in shock. "You're working for _them_? Oh, Andrina!"

Andrina looked up, confused. "What's the big deal?"

Ellie sat down on the edge of her bed, shaking her head. "You have no idea what they're like. Those ladies have gone through half a dozen maids at least. I've never had to work for them full time, personally, but I had to fill in once for a girl who got sick; they're just _awful_."

"Well, I've met plenty of irritable people," acknowledged Andrina lightly. "How bad could they be?"

"Oh, they can be terrible enough," said Ellie somberly. "I don't think anyone's actually been beaten, but they are just nasty people to be around."

Andrina shrugged. "Well, I'll just try to stay on their good side."

Upon entering the kitchen, Mistress Prudence could be seen standing in the midst of the hubbub, tapping her foot. "Well, come along, then; don't dawdle about. The Tremaines will be up in an hour; in the meanwhile, open the curtains in the upstairs hall and prepare for the morning duties."

"Do we get breakfast first?" Andrina queried, mildly surprised.

"You will breakfast later," Mistress Prudence informed sharply. "Duties first. Come along, then; chop, chop." She snapped her fingers, urging everyone to hurry along.

Still a little taken aback, Andrina hurried off to comply. As she passed Ellie by the door, Ellie whispered, "If you need any help with anything, don't be afraid to ask me. I'll do whatever I can to help you."

"Thank you so much," Andrina told her. "I have never done anything like this before, so I'll probably be coming to you a lot."

"No worries," said Ellie, smiling. As Andrina made her way up, she called, "Oh, and don't forget to let the cat out of Lady Tremaine's room when you go; it doesn't like being stuck in there for too long."

Andrina halted at the top step, wondering whether or not she should ask what a "cat" was. Deciding against, she continued on her way up; she could always find out when she got there.

She remembered fairly well the way she and Mistress Prudence had come down to the kitchen from the upstairs yesterday, but it was somewhat more difficult to remember what door to go through to get to the Tremaine's hall. Opening one door cover on the way showed her a long hallway, with the same soft, squishy floor that she'd seen before; but this wasn't the right one, either, since it was pink instead of blue. Closing up that door, she proceeded on to the next one, which opened onto another long hallway, hung with drawings of humans dressed in bright clothes. The next door proved to be the right one, so she crept as quietly as possible into the hall.

The first order of business, as she had been told, was to open the curtains; at least, that was her first command. The real first order of business was to figure out what "curtains" were. She knew they were somewhere on this floor, and that they must be opened somehow; however, at present, it was too dark to see anything properly. She wished she'd brought that little fire-light thing from her room. From what she could see, there was a large blanket-like thing hanging from the wall, with a long piece of some kind of cord hanging beside it. Upon further inspection, she discovered that this drapery covered a window, and a strong tug on the cord pulled back this drape to let in more light.

"Why do they always cover up all the doors and windows?" she wondered aloud, gazing about. It was a rather short hall, Andrina having entered from the door at very end of it. On her left were three white door panels, all closed. Perhaps these were the curtains she must open.

As quietly as possible, Andrina crept to the first door, opened it, and peered in. It was very dark, but she could make out many large, strange furnishings inside. Against one wall was a monstrous bed, in which a figure was sleeping; most likely one of the Tremaine girls. Not wanting to disturb any further, Andrina quietly eased out, leaving the door cover ajar and moving on to the next one.

The next room was much the same, hosting with a similar sleeping person. Moving on to the next door, Andrina tried to step as quietly as her loose, shuffling shoes would allow. Upon opening the third door, however, she encountered a different state of affairs. Beside the massive bed was a second, much smaller bed. Curled up upon this was a dark, sleek animal with four legs, seeming to be entirely made of thick, black hair. When she opened the door, it moved, oozing forward as it stretched its front feet. The hair on the back of Andrina's neck stood up when she noted its long, sharp claws. It had to be the aforementioned "cat."

Backing slowly away from the door, Andrina watched the creature as it glared surreptitiously in her direction with enormous, yellow eyes, giving an enormous yawn, which displayed all of its white, pointed teeth. To her disgust, the animal rolled over, putting its hind leg in the air, and began licking itself. Once it had finished, it suddenly sprang to its feet, leapt gracefully down from its pillow, and sauntered lazily over, casually flicking its bushy, black tail.

"H-hey, there, cat," breathed Andrina, pressing her back to the wall as it slunk past. To her relief, it paid her no heed as it trotted off down the hall on its own business. Once the cat was out of sight, Andrina gave a silent prayer of gratitude, then headed back to the servant's door to bring up the breakfasts.

The kitchen was in a great hubbub when she returned; clouds of steam were billowing in the air from a great pot hung over a massive fire built up in a little alcove at one end of the room. Human servants were scurrying back and forth, calling out to one another, handing off various odd gadgets and contraptions, and making quite a racket that Andrina was surprised didn't awaken the entire castle. In the midst of it all, Ellie was humming pleasantly to herself, stirring up a pot of something gray and sticky, the smell of which was not entirely unpleasant.

Curiously, Andrina peered over Ellie's shoulder. "What's that?"

Ellie turned. "Oh, hello again. Back already?" She held up a large stick with a wide, round part on one end. "It's porridge, for us, for breakfast. It's almost ready; I'll dish you up some in a moment."

"Oh, thanks." Trying to keep out of the way of the other servants, Andrina took a seat on the rectangular table-thing in the middle of the kitchen. It was very like a table back home, only it had four legs, one on each corner, instead of one solid pillar in the middle.

Once Ellie's concoction was finished, she scooped out a glob and dumped it into a small bowl, which she then handed to Andrina along with a tiny, silver thing like a clam shell on a stick. "Eat up while it's hot."

Andrina stared in confusion at the silver stick thing, wisely waiting until Ellie had dished up her own bowl and begun eating to figure out whatever it was. Apparently, it was a small scoop to eat with. As inconspicuously as possible, Andrina did her best to appear as if she had eaten this way all her life. Taking up a small portion of the grey mush, she tested it carefully. It was not sweet or strong; in fact, it was altogether rather bland; but she had never tasted anything like it, and was soon eating with relish.

"So," began Ellie, swallowing a mouthful of porridge, "have you seen the dragon's lair yet?"

Andrina stared blankly at her.

"Have you met the Tremaines?" Ellie rephrased.

"Oh, that." Andrina nodded. "I saw them. They were sleeping, so I didn't go in."

"You left their doors open," came a sharp reprimand from Mistress Prudence, who was suddenly standing close behind her.

Andrina jumped. "Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry."

"You had better apologize to them," snapped the mistress, shooing her off the table. "Go take up their breakfasts. Quickly, now; they're over on the counter." She pointed to three trays laden with food sitting on a long, flat block in the corner.

"I'll get the third one, if you want," Ellie told her, picking up one of the trays.

"Thank you," grunted Andrina, trying to pick up both of the other two trays with one hand each. This was difficult, but she managed it somehow, and the two girls proceeded upstairs. Just before they reached the floor, one of Andrina's floppy shoes fell off; Ellie quickly scooped it up, holding onto it until they got to the top, where Andrina restored it to its proper place.

As the doors were already ajar, Andrina nudged the first open with her foot. In the dim light, she could see a girl around her age sitting up in the bed, looking very cross. Putting on her cheeriest smile, she introduced herself. "Hello, there. I'm Andrina; I'm your new maid. Nice to meet you." Hesitantly, she looked for a place to set down one of the trays, finally settling on a small, round table within reach of the bed.

"Hmph," huffed the girl aggressively, turning up her nose. "As if you care." Reaching around, she pointed to a large bowl-object full of clothes beside the dresser. "Take that ironing and have it back in an hour. One hour, you hear?" Without another word, she picked up her tray, placing it on her lap, and fell to her breakfast, ignoring Andrina.

Mildly shocked, Andrina picked up the bowl-thing and proceeded on her way out. "That's Drizella," Ellie informed her quietly, "the older girl. Nasty temper; don't get on her wrong side."

A similar scene awaited her in the next room; another girl, just as grumpy, was sitting up in bed, scowling. "Well, it's about time!" she snapped as Andrina walked in.

"Um, hello," Andrina quavered, hastily setting the tray on the bedside table. "I'm Andrina."

The girl wrinkled her nose. "Why should I care?" Turning, she pointed to a large box, also full of clothes. "Don't forget the mending. Don't be all day getting it done, either."

Meekly, Andrina hoisted the box onto her other hip; objects on land were really heavy, for some reason; and hurried out.

"That one's Anastasia," whispered Ellie, shaking her head. "Really annoying. Here, trade you." Taking the box, she handed off the last tray to Andrina.

Now, Andrina was getting concerned. Just what lay in wait for her beyond the third door? With baited breath, she pushed open the door and entered the room of Lady Tremaine herself.

A gray-haired woman sat pertly on the bed, stroking the back of the cat curled up in her lap. Repressing a shudder, Andrina bobbed some semblance of a bow. "Morning, ma'am; I-I'm the new maid." Setting down her tray, she made to go, eager to be away.

But the woman raised a hand. "Just a moment; I have a few things for you to do."

Turning, Andrina waited nervously as Lady Tremaine took a sip out of a small, short bowl with a little handle. "Firstly, pick up the laundry," she ordered calmly, waving a hand at a large, white bundle of clothes by the wall. "Then, sweep and mop the front hall, the stairs, and the foyer at the end; then dust the pictures and clean the chimneys in all our rooms, and see that dear Lucifer gets his bath." She scratched the cat between the ears affectionately. The cat, never ceasing to terrify and amaze, let out a growling noise like a low rumble of thunder.

"Will do," Andrina squeaked, making another hasty bow. "It was nice to meet you; thanks." Rapidly catching up the bundle of "laundry" in her free arm, she rushed out of the room, ignoring Lady Tremaine's look of astonishment.

Once she was safe back in the hall, Ellie examined her pale face. "Well, how'd it go?"

"I'm so doomed," sighed Andrina, hoisting the laundry bundle into a better position. "I totally blew it; she probably thinks I'm an idiot."

Ellie gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry; she thinks that about everyone." Helping her lift the heavy bundle, she added, "I can help you with some of this, if you want."

"I'd really appreciate it," said Andrina weakly as her other shoe slid off.


	12. Chapter Twelve

_**Twelve**_

That first morning of work almost made Andrina forget entirely about Henry. It wasn't that she hadn't cleaned anything before; it wasn't even that she hadn't cleaned anything with the use of water, either. But human standards of what was "clean" and what wasn't were very much different from those of the sea people.

The Tremaine's rooms were all the ones that attached to that hall. This included the three bedrooms, as well as four others; a sitting room with an enormous, black piano in the corner (Andrina knew enough about instruments from back home to know what it was), a sort of library, with shelves that were filled with beautiful, colored boxlike things, a room with a funny, green table in the middle of it, and a bright, sunlit room with large windows, all covered with some clear, hard substance. All the windows Andrina found, in fact, were covered with the same stuff; it was beautiful to look at, but she barely had time to admire it properly.

After dropping all the clothes off at their respective places, Ellie showed her a hall closet where cleaning supplies were kept. "Soap" was rather a new phenomenon; through trial and error, she discovered that it burned when got into the eyes, but did wonders on her hands and the floors. With Ellie's assistance, she got the hang of the "duster"; all it was for was running along all the hard surfaces to make them shiny again. The "broom" seemed relatively the same, as more like a giant duster for all the hard floors; the "mop," however, was quite a new instrument in her field of experience.

"Do you think you can show me how to properly do the corners?" she asked rather sheepishly, extending the fuzzy end of the mop towards Ellie.

Ellie looked at her, puzzled. "Haven't you ever used a mop before?"

Her cheeks reddening, Andrina shook her head. "We have dirt floors."

Ellie's eyes widened in sympathy, but she took the mop, dipped the head of it in the bucket of water filled with soap, and wiped it around on the floor. "Sometimes, you just need to give it a good scrub, but mostly, it comes off real easy." She smiled, handing Andrina the stick. "There you go."

As Ellie had gone back to resume her shift, Andrina was left alone to puzzle out the rest of the mopping business. The stairs from the fuzzy-floored hall to the hard-floored "foyer" were relatively simple; one swipe down each was enough. However, on reaching the foyer itself, she realized that there was quite a lot more space to cover. Something between a dance and a small flood ensued, resulting in a very clean but very wet floor. This sent her back to the supply closet, looking for something the soak up the water with; she knew well enough by now that cloth possessed that ability. While there, to her dismay, she heard the sound of footsteps entering the room she had just cleaned, shortly followed by a shriek and a thud.

Dry cloth in hand, Andrina ran back to the scene. Her heart sank as she caught sight of Mistress Prudence, sitting in a heap on the floor and looking very disgruntled. "What is the meaning of this?" she barked.

"I'm so sorry," Andrina apologized, quickly coming to her aide and helping her up. "I just cleaned it, so it's still wet—"

"In an inch of standing water!?" cried Mistress Prudence. "You've no need to drown the floor! And you've left all the doors in the hall open, from what Lady Tremaine has been telling me, including the one for the closet." Rigidly, she brushed off her skirts, as if that would somehow regain her dignity.

Heat surged to Andrina's face. "I am so, so sorry; I had no idea—"

"Andrina?"

Both Andrina and the mistress turned. Andrina gasped, breaking into a smile. "Henry!" Checking herself, she gave a bow, imitating the skirt-pull that Ellie had showed her yesterday. "I mean, your Highness."

Prince Charming stood in the doorway, his face lit with surprise and delight. Mistress Prudence's face went the color of sand, and she too dropped into a skirt-bow. "Forgive us, your Highness; we did not intend to disturb you."

The prince ignored her, striding forward and surprising Andrina with a full embrace. "I can't believe it! What are you doing here?"

"I came to work here," Andrina explained, suddenly conscious of how shabbily she was dressed; sure, it hadn't mattered much back at the beach, but here was very different. "The tunnel collapsed—"

"I know," said Henry, nodding. "I just got back from there. I went around for a good ways to see if you were nearby, but I couldn't find you. I was so worried I'd never see you again. How did you get here?"

"I walked."

That made him start. "On foot? All the way here?"

"It's not really that far," she told him. "I came through town yesterday, and got hired while I was here."

The color was beginning to return to Mistress Prudence's face, and she slowly resumed her stiff manner. "Pray, forgive my interruption, Highness, but how do you know this girl?" She glared daggers at Andrina, who dropped her gaze, biting her lip.

The prince stepped back, formally presenting Andrina. "Mistress Prudence, this is my friend, Andrina. I made the pleasure of her acquaintance down at the beach a few weeks ago. We've been visiting on and off ever since." Turning back to Andrina, he inquired, "Did you say you're actually working here now?"

"Yes," Andrina affirmed. "I've just started today. I've been doing some… cleaning." She glanced at the pools of water on the floor, ears burning. Mistress Prudence reminded them of her presence with a noise of disapproval.

"Oh…" Henry stared around the room, looking close to laughter. "Well, I'd say you've done quite a… thorough job."

Andrina smiled, her discomfort easing some. "Yeah, that's why I brought this." She held up the cloth from the closet.

"So, is this what you'll be doing now?" Henry asked.

"Yep, for the most part," replied Andrina. "Right now, I've been appointed as the new maid for the Tremaines."

Henry's smile disappeared, replaced with something like horror. "What?"

Apparently, even the prince felt the Tremaine's reputation was foul. "Why, do you know them?" Andrina inquired.

"Pretty well," answered the prince, almost apologetically. "They're my cousins."

That was news. "Oh. Really? I didn't know that."

"And now you do," said Mistress Prudence icily, recovering herself at last. "And it is high time you returned to your duties."

Andrina hugged her elbows, gazing bashfully at her shoes. "Yeah, I should probably get back to it. Lots to do, and all."

"Okay," Henry complied. "Can we talk more later; like, after your shift?"

"Sure," Andrina agreed. "I'll just be in the servant's quarters."

"Great! See you then." With a cheery wave, Henry turned and went on his way, carefully stepping around the puddles of water. Satisfied to see him happy once more, Andrina spread the cloth on the floor to soak up the nearest pool.

As she made to pick it up again, Mistress Prudence's heel came down on the cloth. "Don't think I haven't finished with you," she growled out. "I don't know how you came to be in the prince's company, but that does not excuse your behavior."

"No, I know; it doesn't," Andrina apologized fervently, shrinking under the woman's steely gaze. "Look, I'm really sorry; don't worry, I'll keep trying."

With a dismissive grunt, Mistress Prudence turned to go. "Lady Tremaine wishes to see you once you've finished here. She is in her music room." Skirting round the damp patches on the floor, she made off, heels clicking on the marble tiles.

With a sigh, Andrina continued soaking up the rest of the water. Barely a day in on her first day among humans, and she'd already managed to make a mess of things; with her luck, she'd be fired before the day was out.

By the time she'd wiped up the last puddle, the cloth was sopping wet. Dropping it in the bucket, Andrina proceeded back upstairs, guessing that the music room was the one with the deformed piano in it.

As she went up, she suddenly heard a long, drawn wail. Her first thought was that something terrible had happened, until the noise stabilized into singing… sort of. The voice was soon joined by more music, along with a shrill, piercing shriek of something else. Setting the bucket by the stairs, Andrina hurried up to see who was making all the racket.

In the music room sat Lady Tremaine at the big, black piano, dexterously accompanying her daughters in a rendition of the nightingale song. The one called Drizella was the one singing; she wasn't half bad at carrying a tune, but she was doing so very, very loudly so as to be heard over the squeaky notes of her sister, Anastasia, who was playing some kind of shiny, silver pipe. Standing in the corner opposite the trio was Henry, trying very hard to smile politely and not wince at every note.

Andrina put a hand to her mouth for fear she should burst out laughing. Holding her breath at least until the end of the phrase, she stood back, out of sight behind the doorway, debating on just going in anyways or waiting until the prince had left. Soon enough, this was decided for her; as Anastasia kept poking Drizella with the end of her pipe, Drizella wrested it from her and whacked her over the head with it. "You clumsy! You did it on purpose!"

In retaliation, Anastasia jerked it back and returned the blow. "You're always nagging me about something!"

"Girls, girls," quieted Lady Tremaine, as if this were nothing more serious than a question as to which necklace each should choose. "Above all, self control."

Andrina took the opportunity to knock on the doorframe, still keeping behind the door until directly summoned. Evidently, she had been mistaken again; the reserved lady pounded a fist onto the piano and rose, nostrils flaring. "What?"

Timidly, Andrina edged around the doorway. "I was told you wanted to see me, ma'am?" she asked quietly, crossing her fingers behind her back. Henry sent her a sympathetic look.

"Firstly," said Lady Tremaine stiffly, "in future, you are never to interrupt our music lessons under any circumstances; especially when there is company present."

The two sisters snickered to one another as Andrina felt her ears begin to burn. "Of course."

"Secondly," Lady Tremaine continued, stalking loftily about, "you have not completed your tasks. I recall asking you to clean the chimneys in all our rooms; that has not been done yet."

This was probably not a good time to mention that Andrina didn't know what a "chimney" was, so she said, "Yes, I was about to do that; thank you for the reminder."

With a regal air, Lady Tremaine turned away and continued pacing about the room. "I suppose you don't understand just how high a family standing we hold here. We Tremaines are descendants of the Lord Peridot, second cousin of the Earl of Manchester, who was the heir of the Lord of Muscovy himself. That is his portrait, above the fireplace." She pointed to a large picture of a colorful, rather poufy human man with dark hair and beard, who bore the expression of one taking a grammar lesson. Catching Henry's eye, Andrina made a face, causing him to choke back a suppressed laugh.

Just then, from behind Andrina came a light, almost musical sound. As pretty as it was, she stiffened as something soft brushed past her, and Lady Tremaine's cat, Lucifer, trotted into the room. "Ah, and another thing," said Lady Tremaine, scooping the animal up into her arms and petting it lovingly. "Lucifer still needs a bath."

Drizella snorted, not bothering to be discreet. "I think she's afraid of cats, Mother."

"Hush," silenced Lady Tremaine sternly. Extending the cat towards Andrina, she ordered, "As you are here, you may do that first."

Squaring her shoulders, Andrina gingerly took the cat, trying to hold it in a manner that would let it be comfortable, but wouldn't be touching her very much. "As you wish."


	13. Chapter Thirteen

_**Thirteen**_

The first week at the human palace ran much the same; rising before dawn, carrying up breakfasts, fetching and dropping off laundry, mending, sewing, and all other manner of paraphernalia; cleaning, washing, scrubbing, and sweeping until long after dusk, and then bed. It was not altogether unpleasant; Andrina had Ellie for company, as well as Henry, whenever both of them had time, which wasn't often. As it was, as long as she stayed out of the way of the Tremaines and Mistress Prudence, it wasn't half bad.

One consistent problem of reoccurrence was finding shoes. She never managed to get a hold on a proper size, so they were always falling off; and sometimes, she didn't notice when they fell off until Mistress Prudence or someone or other was yelling at her about "going about in bare feet." As Henry and Ellie both thought this funny, however, she tried not to mind so much.

It was a different matter of getting to know her workplace. There were only a few rooms she was actually allowed to enter, which did nothing to abate her curiosity of the place. If Ariel were here, undoubtedly the first thing she'd have done would be to run through the whole castle to see what was in it; but, having a bit more discretion, Andrina refrained from such impulsive behavior.

In spite of not being able to explore, everything she did see was just as fascinating. She soon learned, partially with Ellie's help, what "chimneys" were and where to find them, as well as "mantelpieces," "windowsills," "lamps," and "cabinets." She soon discovered that the queer skirt-bow was called a "curtsy," and that all ladies did it whenever a gentleman was around. She also learned about all the kinds of human dishes; "cups," "bottles," and "goblets" were something new to her, as there was nothing in the nature of drinkable liquids under the sea. In fact, eating human meals in general definitely took some getting used to, but with effort, she managed to get the hang of it.

By the end of the first week, Andrina discovered she had unwittingly made quite a reputation for herself. She was renowned among the castle staff for her bizarre ways, klutziness, and retaining a personal relationship with the prince himself, with whom she was on very friendly terms. No one would dare to rebuke the prince for associating with a commoner, so, as a compromise, Andrina was doubly misused for it. While Mistress Prudence made it quite clear of how little value she was, it was almost as if Lady Tremaine viewed her as some kind of threat; she kept assigning various extra chores for Andrina to do. As well as helping her do them, Ellie brought her a better understanding of the absurdity of her circumstances.

"This is ridiculous!" she stated while helping Andrina take the pictures off the walls to dust behind them. "She cannot keep treating you like this; this is getting just plain silly!"

"I don't know if it's that bad," Andrina allowed, struggling to lift a very large picture of an elegant human woman back on the wall. "It's not like she's hit me or anything." In truth, she had no idea what was normal for humans to do to each other. By now, she'd seen quite a bit of interaction in the kitchens that would be considered highly questionable back in Atlantica.

Ellie gave her a questioning look as she flipped around the picture Andrina had just hung up, as it had been upside-down. "But it's still not fair. You need to say something, or at least tell the prince about it."

Andrina shook her head. "No, really, it's not a big deal. I'm sure he's got tons of bigger things to think about than me."

Ellie put her hands on her hips. "Oh, come on; I'm not blind. He'd totally drop anything for you, if you asked."

"Which is what I don't need to do," grunted Andrina, heaving another picture off the wall. "He's a prince; he has prince stuff to keep track of." She paused a moment, stretching her aching back; the pictures were incredibly heavy for their size.

Ellie raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. "That still doesn't make it okay for her to make you her step-and-fetch-it."

Andrina could only respond with a shrug, and mentally hazard a guess at what a "step-and-fetch-it" was.

Dusting the drawing room was not a difficult task, but it was always hard to find time to do it, particularly as it was almost never empty. Except for when they went out for what they referred to as a "spree," the Tremaine ladies were a rather reclusive lot and stuck to their own rooms as often as possible. The drawing room was a place of frequent habitation, and, as the Tremaines never liked having a servant about, even to do their bidding, they always sniped about her presence whenever she came into the room.

Needless to say, it was definitely a bad time for Andrina to be dusting with the Tremaines in the room, particularly just before Prince Charming walked in unannounced.

"Oh! Your Highness." Lady Tremaine rose quickly, dropping her lowest and best curtsy and motioning for her girls to do the same. "What an unexpected surprise."

Instinctively, Andrina flattened herself nearer to the wall, continuing her dusting as inconspicuously as possible. Henry shot her a half-smile, which she returned when Lady Tremaine's eye was turned the other way.

"Good day, Aunt," he greeted, bowing. "I just wanted to let you know about the ball my father is hosting tomorrow night."

"A ball!" cried the Tremaine sisters in delight.

"Yes," said Henry, rather resignedly. "A ball in my honor, as it happens, for whatever reason my father has concocted this time."

Of course, Andrina knew perfectly well what a "ball" was, as her own father had hosted plenty of them back home. From the sound of it, she guessed that the prince was having a ball, courtesy of his father the king, in the hopes that he would find a suitable bride.

"Oh, of course, you'll dance with me!" sighed Anastasia, leaning very near to the prince; much closer than his comfort level, judging by his expression.

"Of course he will," rejoined Drizella, crowding to his other side. "After he's had the pleasure of dancing with me."

Anastasia pushed at her. "Oh, you're always butting in—"

Before it rose to a genuine row, however, Lady Tremaine overrode them. "Girls, please; your manners."

"It's really nothing that grand," noted Henry calmly. "Father thinks it would be a good idea, and there will be many other young ladies attending."

"Naturally," consented Lady Tremaine amiably. "It is in your Highness' honor."

"I think I know what Father has in mind," said Henry heavily, rolling his eyes. "I mean, I understand it to be customary," he corrected quickly. "It's only to be expected at this point in my life."

"Of course, your Highness," Lady Tremaine agreed, nodding. "There are plenty of young ladies of high standing to consider. Why, even if you were to marry one of your dear cousins—" She motioned to her two daughters, "—it would still be considered acceptable for one of your status. When is the ball to be held?"

"Tomorrow night," Henry informed. "Father seems to be in something of a hurry. He said that by royal command, every eligible maiden is to attend."

"Hey, that totally includes me, right?" remarked Andrina before she could stop herself.

All of them turned to stare at her. She had actually meant it as a joke, but it would have been far better if she and Henry were alone. While he was smothering his own grin, as well as expressing a look of shocked sympathy, the Tremaine sisters snorted in real mockery.

"Her! Dancing with the prince!" laughed Drizella. "That's incredible!"

Anastasia struck a clumsy pose. "'Oh, I'd be honored, Highness; would you mind holding my broom?'" Taking each other's arms, they spun about, cackling at the top of their lungs.

Lady Tremaine, however, was dangerously not amused. "I beg your pardon; did anyone ask of you to speak?"

Sheepishly, Andrina returned to her dusting, trying to pretend nothing at all had occurred and that she could still see clearly.

Ever the gentleman, Henry straightened the situation out. "Any young lady who wishes to may attend; it is, after all, in my honor." Andrina hardly dared to look at him, but her heart rate quickened considerably at this.

"Well, thank you for letting us know," purred Lady Tremaine, elegantly curtsying, and waving at her daughters to follow suit.

Bowing, Henry hurried purposefully out of the room. As soon as the prince was gone, the Tremaines burst into excited chattering.

"A ball!" cried Drizella ecstatically. "And he invited us first!"

"And I'm so eligible," added Anastasia gleefully, striking a ridiculous pose she seemed to think attractive.

"Oh, you!" sneered Drizella. "You wouldn't have a chance—"

"Now, now, girls," quieted Lady Tremaine, "I'm sure either one of you has just as good a chance as the other; after all, all maidens of _eligible standing_ are to be there." She shot a look of pure venom at Andrina, her implication perfectly clear.

Swallowing hard, Andrina hurried to finish her dusting. Hopefully, Lady Tremaine was not about to start planning a nasty surprise for her.

Later in the afternoon, in the sleepy hour of the day, when most of the castle staff were relaxing in the servant's quarters, Andrina and Henry met together in a little side-passage for some time alone. Andrina had taken the opportunity to remove the dirty "apron" she'd used during her cleaning and leave it and her shoes back in her room.

"Whew!" she puffed, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. "Who knew that life in a castle could be so much work?"

"I know exactly what you mean," Henry confided, looking tired and unhappy. "So, I suppose by now you understand about the whole ball situation?"

"And I'd like to thank you for saving my tail back there," she affirmed, nodding. "Sorry if I embarrassed you."

"Oh, I don't think it was me you embarrassed," Henry chuckled. "Don't worry about her, though; she's a tough old nut, but I'll make sure she doesn't get to you."

"Thanks." Andrina met his gaze, trying to relax a little, as her chest seemed to have stopped functioning properly. "Well, are you excited?"

Henry snorted halfheartedly. "That's one way of saying it." Giving her a sidelong look, he asked, "Will you be going?"

Andrina's heart quivered, but shrugged. "I honestly have no idea; they might have me working or something. Besides, I don't actually have anything else to wear."

Henry looked inquiringly at her. "Didn't you bring anything?"

She gave a hapless shrug, trying not to become mesmerized by his stare. "Just myself."

"Which brings me to another question: you still haven't told me why you came here. Not that I'm not thrilled, of course," he corrected himself, stumbling a little, "but, I mean, I just wondered, since—well, I thought maybe your dad…"

Andrina sighed, folding her arms tightly. "Yeah, let's just say we had a falling out. He found out about where I was going, and kind of… blew up on me." She gave a half laugh, feeling her face growing hot. Squaring her shoulders, she finished, "So I left."

Henry stared in sympathetic shock. "I'm so sorry. Are… you going to be okay?"

Andrina nodded, firmly swallowing the lump in her throat. "Yeah; we just needed some time apart, that's all."

"How much time?" asked Henry, peering with concern into her face.

"As long as it takes for him to calm down," she replied. Blinking rapidly to clear her vision, she added casually, "Anyway, I don't think I'd fit in at a party like this. I don't even know how to dance." That was only a partial lie; she had danced before, just not with human legs.

"Well, that's not hard to fix," said Henry brightly, stepping into the middle of the hall. "I can teach you. See, you start like this." He bowed low, offering his hand. Smiling, Andrina curtsied and took it, receiving a tingling up and down her spine. "Now, you do this," he continued, handing her a fold of her skirt and positioning her arm up. Putting his other hand on her waist, he instructed, "Now, step back with your right foot, then step left; no, I mean right—"

Tripping over Henry's foot, Andrina fell straight back. Fortunately, Henry threw an arm about her, catching her just in time. "Sorry, not that way."

"How are you going to teach me if you can't dance either?" she gasped, giggling in spite of herself.

"Sorry," he apologized, half laughing. "I have kind of big feet. And you have—" He stopped, glancing down at her feet. "Where are your shoes?"

"They don't fit," she confessed, shrugging.

For no apparent reason at all, this was absurdly funny, and promptly dissolved both into laughter. This ended at the sound of a startled voice: "What on earth…?"

Ellie had just entered the passageway, duster in hand, her face going stark white when she saw who it was. Dropping into a curtsy, she mumbled hastily, "My apologies, your Highness; I didn't know—"

"It's all right," Henry assured her, helping Andrina up once again. "We were just inventing a new quickstep." This triggered another round of giggles from the two and a bewildered expression from Ellie.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

_**Fourteen**_

The kingdom of Atlantica had not fared well under the recent circumstances. The sea king had fallen into a dark, troubled state of mind, speaking little to anyone on anything. The search for the missing princess had stretched as far as their borders went. Inquiries had been made into the neighboring kingdoms, but no one had seen or heard from Andrina. As the week dragged on, the rest of the princesses began to drift into an endless state of despair which, out of the six left, only two sisters were partially exempt from.

Ariel was furious, and made certain everyone knew it; especially their father. She refused to speak to him for the entirety of three days, spending most of her time wandering near the coasts in the hopes that Andrina had gone that way.

"She must have tried to find him again," was her only explanation when questioned. "I know I would have."

"How would she have any other way to find him?" Attina asked heavily. "Where would she have gone? She didn't go back to the cave and start digging through it; we checked already."

"She would have found a way," insisted Ariel stubbornly. "I know she would have. She's our sister; we _know_ her."

"We all _thought_ we knew her before all this," sighed Aquata, her only comfort being to squeeze Mr. Fuzzyfinkle a little tighter.

The other exception was Adella; she was jumpy, almost shifty, avoiding eye contact with essentially everyone and looking very guilty. It was generally assumed that she was still under the impression she was to blame for the whole fiasco; still, as time wore on, it began to look less like guilt and more like paranoia.

"Are you feeling okay?" Alana asked her after, for the fifth time that day, she'd been startled into near hysterics by someone coming round a corner.

Adella waved her away, taking far too large gasps to steady herself. "I'm fine. Nothing to worry about." Before she could be questioned further, she hurried off, leaving her sisters scratching their heads.

"What is with her lately?" wondered Alana suspiciously.

Arista gave a hapless shrug. "Wish I knew; maybe she's just taking it a different way."

Attina's eyes narrowed. "More like she's hiding something from us."

Aquata glanced worriedly at Attina. "You don't think she knows anything about this, do you?"

"I don't know." Attina frowned, eyeing Adella as she made her way through the palace. "But I think I'd better find out."

Taking the same course as she had before, Adella made her way out to the dark places of the sea, where she was certain she would find the sea witch. The first time, she had gone in unnoticed; now, she would have to make her presence known.

Trembling, she swam as quickly as possible out to the witch's lair, not daring to look at anything else as she passed. She was in such a hurry, she wasn't watching where she was going, and almost went through a sudden jet of boiling water. She escaped unscathed and swam onward, shaky and gasping.

Finally, she reached the cave, near tears with fear and exertion. Neither of the sea witch's pet eels were guarding the entrance, so she entered unbidden a second time. Avoiding the disturbing "garden" out front, she kept near the ceiling and slipped quietly into Ursula's parlor.

Looking around, Adella saw no one in sight. All was still and quiet as she made her way towards the back of the cavern, where the sea witch's special alcove hung. Holding her breath, Adella risked a closer look.

It was empty.

With a sigh of relief, Adella relaxed. The witch wasn't at home; one less reason to be in her cave. Quickly, she turned to make a hasty exit.

"I do so hate unsolicited calls," purred Ursula, looming up from the shadows behind. "It's terribly rude, to enter without knocking."

Adella made a dash for the door. Quick as lightning, one great, rubbery tentacle wrapped itself around her, drawing her uncomfortably near to the sea witch. "Oh, there's no need to hurry," hummed Ursula, towing the mermaid along as she went to her vanity chair. "Now that you're here, we might as well have a chat."

Adella struggled, trying not to focus on how slimy the tentacle was. "I—I was just c-coming to ask about something," she gasped, prying an arm free of the sucker-covered grasp.

"Oh, is that all?" teased Ursula, chuckling. "Well, this is the second time you've paid a visit; it wouldn't happen to concern your dear sister, would it?" Relaxing, she turned Adella loose, but kept her tentacle out, like a sea serpent ready to strike.

Shuddering, Adella forced herself to move an inch nearer. "Um, yes, actually. I just wanted to know, how is she? Is she okay?"

Ursula held up her hands. "How should I know that? She's on land; I'm afraid that's out of my jurisdiction."

"Isn't there a way you can find out, though?" Adella demanded, rather sharply. "You are a witch, after all."

"True, dear, but my services are not free." The witch rifled casually through her vanity, pulling out a small clamshell, which she flipped open. It was full of small, live shrimp, which began squeaking in fear as soon as the clam was open. Adella covered her face as the witch picked up one of these in her fingernails and popped it whole into her mouth. After taking a moment to swallow, she then said, "And unless you have something of value you want to trade, there's not much I can do for you."

Adella edged towards the door. "Um, okay. Never mind, then."

She would have bolted, but the nearby tentacle flicked restlessly, inducing her to freeze. "Oh, come, now; there must be something you can barter," suggested Ursula invitingly. "I can let you have a look into my lovely crystal ball, perhaps, to take a look at how things are going on up there; that's practically free of charge. Of course," she added lightly, "I'd need to make a small potion to extend its gaze further; for that, I would need something small from you."

"How small?" asked Adella suspiciously.

"Well, why don't you tell me?" Ursula wheedled with a malicious grin. "I'm sure you've got something to offer. After all, you did come here of your own initiative; I'm sure you wouldn't have come unprepared."

Adella closed her eyes, gritting her teeth. "I'll owe you a favor."

A greedy glint entered Ursula's eyes as she smiled broadly. "Well, I suppose, given your current situation, I'd consider that a fair bargain." Bringing her tentacle round Adella's shoulders, she drew her closer, offering up the end of a tiny scroll, along with a bright, gleaming pen. "Just your signature will do."

Wincing, Adella took the pen and made a hasty signature. Grinning broadly, Ursula snatched it up again, stowing it out of sight. "Now, then, to business."

Leading Adella along, she went to her great cauldron, waving a hand over it. It opened at once, emitting a single, bright bubble which hovered above it. Moving deftly to and fro, the witch began going through her cabinet of potion ingredients, pulling out various ingredients and tossing them into her cauldron. Adella tried very hard not to look at any of the contents too hard, some of which blinked forlornly at her, and focused on asking questions. "Why would she do this, anyway?"

"I wouldn't know, dear," hummed Ursula, pulling something uncannily like a large tongue out of a jar and throwing it mercilessly into the mix. "She's in love, and it's not my business to ask questions regarding her affairs. I expect she just got fed up with the lot of you." She chuckled nastily to herself as she cast a few seagull feathers into her potion. "There, that should do it. As long as there's a source of water nearby, she should be in sight. Take a look and see what there is to see."

Adella approached the steaming cauldron, staring hard at the bubble. The bubble glimmered brightly, shimmering like the sun dancing on the surface. Then, through an opaque mist, shapes began to form; they were strange and unfamiliar to Adella's eyes, but she could guess at what they were: mysterious wonders of the human world. A small figure was moving about, weaving to and fro among them; walking on human legs, as if doing some kind of strange, awkward dance. Adella squinted hard, trying to catch a glimpse of the face, but the figure kept moving around—

Then the back of the figure's head was visible: short blonde hair, clamped with a pink shell comb.

Adella gasped. "That's her! But where is she?" Swimming around the bubble made no difference to the view of the scene. "Who is she staying with? It looks awfully big. Is it a castle?"

"How should I know?" Ursula moved around to the other side, putting a few oddments in their proper corners. "She seems fine to me, just as you hoped for; I can't tell any more than you from that."

Adella was tempted to stay and observe longer, but felt a strong inclination to leave as soon as possible. "Well, thank you," she said stiffly to the witch, "but I'll be going now, and I won't bother you with any more 'unsolicited' visits."

Ursula snickered, raising the hair on the back of Adella's neck as she turned to leave. "I should hope not; not ' _unsolicited_ ,' at least. Take care, darling," she added, waving cheerfully. "I hope to see you again soon."

"Not likely," muttered Adella, hurrying out of the cave.

She made it safely back to the window of their room without being noticed. Still breathing hard, she sat down on the edge of her bed, curling up by her pillow.

"Went out for a swim?"

Attina was standing behind the windowsill, arms crossed, tail moving in a manner just shy of lashing. Adella almost screamed, but turned it into a panicked smile at the last second. "Yep," she replied, trying to sound chipper, and only sounding shrill. "Nothing like a little swim to take your mind off things."

Attina glared at her. "Yeah, sure; so why were you gone for the last half an hour? Were you planning on disappearing on us, too?"

"Of course not!" Adella protested. "I would never—"

"You can't just go wandering off willy-nilly like that," Attina continued in a much less severe tone, swimming over to her side. "You'll give Daddy a heart attack if something were to happen. We need to know exactly where everyone is from here on out. Please tell me you understand?"

Adella sighed, bowing her head. "I understand."

"Good." Attina grew serious once more. "So, where were you?"

Adella swallowed hard, staring at her fingers. "Please don't be mad…"

Attina put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Why would I be?"

"I just miss her so much," Adella sniffed, hugging her pillow tightly. "I don't want anything to happen to her."

"None of us do," Attina reassured her. "We're all trying to help as much as we can. But in all honesty, this is between her and Daddy; we can give support where it's needed, but in the end, they have to work this out themselves. It's not going to help to get wrapped up in all this too."

Adella nodded, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Back in her lair, Ursula was busy concocting a new potion. When done correctly, this spell could offer ample opportunity for keeping an eye on things on land, provided any other body of water was nearby. With the proper form, this could even possibly extend to two-way communication; a useful commodity when available. She had to admit, these sea princesses had peaked her interest in new ways, prompting her resolve to make good use of them while she had them at her disposal. The second princess had just inspired a new idea; perhaps it was time she took matters into her own tentacles. This game was about to get a whole lot more fun.

"No one ever said I was one to waste anything," she remarked to her two eels, tossing a vial of foul green slime into her cauldron. "From what I could see, I have a suspicion the young, lovesick, human princess may be in need of some extra help. And, of course," she chuckled sinisterly, "I always do my best to lend a helping arm, when I can spare one."


	15. Chapter Fifteen

_**Fifteen**_

"See, I told you he'd do anything for you!" Ellie was bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement. "That's practically a personal invitation; you have to go to the ball now!"

Andrina looked up from polishing a large, silver jar thing she'd been working at for the last quarter of an hour. It was very old and spotted with age; a good mass of a smelly goop had taken off the worst of it, but Lady Tremaine had coldly informed her that she wanted to see her reflection clearly in it. "Yeah, I'll be sure to do that, once I find something nice enough to wear and a time when the Tremaines aren't looking over my shoulder."

Ellie waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, you shouldn't worry about them. But if it's a dress you need, you can probably buy something nice with your week's earnings."

Andrina frowned, puzzled. "What… 'earnings'?"

Ellie stared in confusion at her. "You know, the money you made this week. Because we get paid for our work?" When Andrina continued to gaze blankly at her, she asked, "Haven't you gotten your week's fee yet?"

Andrina shook her head. "This is the first I've heard of it."

"There must have been a mistake," Ellie reasoned. "I'll check with Mistress Prudence the first chance I get. In the meantime, maybe I can help you out with the dress; I've got a couple of things that might work."

"What sort of things?' inquired Andrina.

Ellie gave a teasing shrug. "Oh, just a little something of my own, along with some odds and ends. I'm sure I can scrounge up a few extra bits from the sewing room…" Continuing chattering excitedly to herself, Ellie sped off on some unknown mission of her own pursuit, leaving Andrina to wonder what she was up to.

The day of the ball was extraordinarily busy. Andrina was rushed hither and thither, carting clothes and dresses back and forth for the Tremaine sisters to try on, dismiss, then try on again, in an endless cycle of trivial pointlessness. On the other end of the spectrum, Lady Tremaine seemed altogether determined to give her as many chores as possible that absolutely had to be finished before she attended the ball. This list included giving Lucifer an unnecessary brushing, rearranging half the furniture in the parlor, doing something called "waxing" to the hard floors, and dusting and polishing every surface identifiable by a name.

It would have been grueling if Andrina had been the only one hard at work in the castle that day. But for several hours, the cooks had been bringing in vast amounts of various foods for the feast that night. The castle decorators almost lost their wits over choosing the appropriate colors for the tables. Every maid and butler was wanted, the musicians were busy practicing, and there was a general bustle of commotion in every chamber.

Somehow or other, Andrina made it past lunch without dropping dead from exhaustion. Taking a minute to hide in the servant's passage for at least a brief rest without interruption, she was surprised to be found by Ellie, who was beaming with such a brightness that rivaled the sun on the water. "Hey, there; what's up?"

If possible, Ellie's smile widened. "I think I found the solution to your dress situation."

"Oh? What's that?" asked Andrina, glancing up.

Her jaw just about hit the floor when she saw what Ellie was holding. "What… How—where did you get…"

Ellie giggled, lifting her prize higher. "Like it? The original dress is made from one of those old ones up in storage; no one ever uses them anymore, so I just added a few things and spruced it up a bit. What do you think?"

Andrina stared, unable to speak. A lovely dress of coral-pink cloth hung before her, with ruffles along the skirt and neck. It was the prettiest thing Andrina had ever seen in her life, and Ellie had _made_ it for her. It was the second time a human had taken the trouble to give her something beautiful.

"Thank you so much," she whispered, her eyes welling up. Struggling to keep her emotions under control, she added, "It's too good for me, really."

"Not at all," Ellie assured her, placing it carefully in her arms. "It's perfect for you. And it even matches your… uh…" She gestured to the pink shell comb, glancing curiously at it. "Do you ever take that out?"

"Not usually," Andrina giggled, gingerly holding up the dress, as if it might break. "My hair goes a little crazy sometimes. But I'll probably need to clean up some before I put this on."

"Oh, and I almost forgot: it goes with these." Out of her apron pocket, Ellie withdrew a string of smooth, blue beads and a lovely pair of pink shoes. But the shoes were unlike any Andrina had seen yet; they had long, pointy sticks poking out of the bottoms that made them look very difficult for walking in. "They were the smallest I could find that matched," Ellie explained, sticking the beads back in her pocket and setting the shoes down on the floor. "Well, go ahead and give them a try."

With great uncertainty, Andrina stepped into them, subsequently gaining about four inches in height. Walking in human shoes at all had been hard enough to learn; this particular pair, which was still a little too large for her feet, nearly broke her ankle before she'd taken two steps. "They—they're certainly exciting," she gasped, clutching at Ellie's arm for support.

"I take it you've never been in high heels before?" Ellie tried to control her giggling. "Don't worry, though; they're not so bad once you get used to them."

"Maybe you should hang onto them for now." With great caution, Andrina took off the shoes and handed them and the dress back. "I probably need to get back to work."

The sound of footsteps brought them to attention, Ellie quickly whipping the gown and shoes behind her back. Seconds later, Mistress Prudence entered, looking as sour as usual. "What are you both doing loitering about? There's work to be done!"

"Yes, Mistress," said Ellie, bobbing in acknowledgement. "We were just getting back to it."

"And you!" Mistress Prudence turned her eye on Andrina. "You'd better not leave the Tremaines waiting."

"Yes, ma'am," Andrina conceded, turning for the door.

"Oh, one more thing, Madam," Ellie added suddenly. "Has Andrina already received her payment for this week yet?"

Mistress Prudence cast a steely eye on Andrina. "Hmph, asking for more already, are we?"

"Oh, no, ma'am," Andrina explained. "I just haven't gotten it yet."

The mistress frowned slightly. "That's odd, since I already had it sent to you."

"Well, that's all right, then," said Andrina, trying to sound cheerful. "It just means it hasn't arrived yet."

Mistress Prudence raised an eyebrow. "I shall look into the matter with the Lady Tremaine."

"Good idea," agreed Ellie, just as Andrina said, "Oh, you don't have to do that."

"In the meanwhile, hurry along now; back to your duties." Continuing on her way, Mistress Prudence side-stepped them and went upstairs.

Ellie glanced at Andrina, eyes narrowed. "I think there's something fishy going on here."

Andrina stared in bewilderment. "'Fishy'? How 'fishy'?"

"Well, it's definitely odd that you got paid, but never received any of the money." Quickly, Ellie bundled up the dress and shoes together. "I'll just put these in our room for now. At ten minutes to eight, you'll need to get ready."

"But where do I go?" questioned Andrina, biting her lip.

"I'll show you the way to the ballroom," Ellie told her. "Just meet me at the end of the Tremaine's foyer; we'll sneak through to the front from there."

Andrina laid her hands on the dress, clasping Ellie's through the fabric. "Thank you so much for everything you've done for me."

Ellie smiled warmly. "It's from one friend to another."

The evening arrived with excited fervor. The Tremaine sisters, who hardly seemed satisfied with anything, were hard at work, ironing and pruning themselves to their ideal of perfection. While they were busy getting ready, Andrina managed to nip back to her room, wash a good bit of herself clean using the bowl and pitcher of water on the table there, and slip into her new, beautiful garments. It was cool and breezy, simply wonderful to feel. Standing in front of the mirror, hardly able to recognize herself, she suddenly felt afraid; she still knew nothing of dancing, and it would be even harder with the new, wobbly shoes. What would people think if Henry asked her to dance and all she did was fall over?

Still, having got this far already, Andrina tried to quell these fears. They were soon replaced with excitement; she was going to see a _human_ party, mingling among other humans! How jealous her sisters would be if they knew. And how awed would the humans be, too, if they knew anything about where she came from.

Finally, now dressed properly for her big night, she crept cautiously out into the servant's hall. She was fortunate, encountering no one as she snuck back to the Tremaine's floor. Peering out through the servant's door, she made sure no one was in sight, then ran as swiftly and noiselessly as her shoes would allow for down the hall to the stairs.

Ellie was waiting for her in the foyer, as promised. She put a hand over her mouth when Andrina came (very carefully) down the stairs. "Oh my goodness, you look amazing!"

Giggling quietly, Andrina could hardly help twirling around, watching the skirt flare out around her. "I don't know; do you think it will do?"

"Of course it will!" Ellie assured her eagerly. "You'll be the most beautiful girl at the ball! I'm sure the prince will love it."

"Do you, indeed?" said a cold voice.

Slowly, Andrina turned. Lady Tremaine and her daughters were standing at the foot of the stairs, dressed and ready for the ball. The sisters were staring at her in shock, aghast at her new apparel. Lady Tremaine remained passive, tapping one foot on the floor.

"So," she mused, slowly coming forward, circling Andrina like a prowling shark, "I see you intend to go after all. How very clever. These beads," she remarked, gingerly lifting the end of the necklace and examining it. "They give it just the right touch. Don't you think so, Drizella?" She turned to face her daughter.

Drizella, who had still been staring, let out a snort, stomping forward. "No, I don't; I think she's a little thief! None of those things are yours!"

With a sudden savagery, she yanked the necklace and snapped it off Andrina's neck. Andrina stumbled back, rubbing her smarting neck. "Ow! Stop, please!"

Not to be outdone by her sister, Anastasia entered the fray. "You dirty, good-for-nothing sneak!" she cried, ripping the sash from Andrina's waist.

"Leave her alone!" cried Ellie, only to get shoved aside by Drizella. In seconds, both the Tremaine sisters were attacking Andrina, tearing off various pieces of the dress. Clearly, human clothes were not made to tear easily, for it hurt dreadfully; she almost fell, thanks to the shoes, as she was buffeted by the girls.

Finally, Lady Tremaine held up a hand. "Girls, girls, that's quite enough. Come along, now, both of you; I won't have you upsetting yourselves." She waved them on through the door out of the foyer, then followed herself. On the threshold, she paused long enough to say, "Goodnight, and do take care of this mess." and then took her leave.

Ellie turned to Andrina to say how sorry she was, but Andrina was gone, leaving behind only tattered rags and beads scattered across the floor.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

_**Sixteen**_

The castle grounds had several divisions; the kitchen gardens were on the left, opened onto by one of the servant's doors. Just behind this, through a small gate, was one of the luxury gardens, surrounded by a wall of greenery, but between this and the kitchen garden was a short walk and a narrow open space with one large tree, a shallow pool, and a low bench tucked neatly in one corner. As all the servants were now making last-minute adjustments for the ball, no one else was about, and it was under this tree that Ellie found Andrina, face in her arms.

Tentatively, Ellie edged nearer, hands clasped. "Are you hurt?"

"No," Andrina gasped shakily, sniffing hard. "Just my pride." Drying her eyes, she rose and sat down on the bench. "Guess I should have seen that one coming."

Ellie sat down next to her, her own eyes swimming. "I'm so sorry. We should have gone through the servant's halls."

"It's okay," Andrina sniffed, trying vainly to calm herself. "It doesn't matter now. It was a nice idea, while it lasted."

"I wish I could make this better." Ellie put her arms round Andrina, which almost wrung fresh tears from her. "I could strangle that woman; I just know she did that on purpose. The prince is going to be so angry—"

"Please don't tell him," Andrina protested weakly, bowing her head. "Nothing's gone right since I got here. Everything I do just makes things worse." Surprisingly, she hadn't given much thought that week to her family at home; she still couldn't yet think of her father without feeling resentment. Now, however, she suddenly realized the torment her sisters must be enduring because of her. That brought her emotions back all over again; burying her face in her hands, she commenced sobbing with renewed force. Having no understanding of the full situation, all poor Ellie could do was hug her close and wait for the storm to subside.

"Poor, sweet child; I leave you alone for a week, and already you have another serious problem."

Andrina's heart froze. Starting up, she stared round wildly, hardly daring to believe it. Ellie, too, was unnerved. "W-who said that?"

"Now, don't be alarmed, dears; I've come to help out." With a rushing and bubbling noise, the pool by the tree began frothing and boiling, and from its depths rose the face and arms of Ursula, the last person Andrina had expected to meet on land.

Andrina was shocked. "How—What are you doing?"

Ursula grinned fiercely, wiggling her fingers at her. "Now, that's hardly what I'd call a fair welcome. Not to worry, love; I'm here to make all your dreams come true."

Ellie drew close to Andrina's side. "Who is that? Do you know each other?"

Ursula flashed the girl a bright smile. "Oh, don't mind me; just call me a friendly fairy godmother, if you will."

"B-but why are you here?" Andrina stammered.

"Why, what does it look like? To help with your little situation." She skeptically surveyed Andrina up and down. "I take it that's not the ideal standard of human fashion?"

A lump rose into Andrina's throat, but she inquired suspiciously, "What exactly are you offering me? A 'bargain' of some kind?"

"If that's what you want to call it, I suppose so." The witch casually examined her fingernails. "I was thinking something more like an extension. Just step a little closer and find out."

Warily, Andrina took a hesitant step forward, but Ellie put a hand on her shoulder. "Hold on, are you sure we can trust her? I mean," she continued, lowered her voice, "she doesn't really… look trustworthy."

Ursula overheard the remark, but merely laughed. "Please, darling, if looks determined trustworthiness, you could never trust anyone." She beckoned invitingly to Andrina. "Well, then, my dear?"

Swallowing hard, Andrina approached the pool. Ursula raised a hand, holding it out over the water. With a rushing swirl, the water rose up in a steady trickle which began winding itself in a wide circle around Andrina. Slowly, it rose about her, shimmering brightly, until it solidified into new shape. A moment later, Andrina was clothed in a glistening, silvery gown, along with a pair of shining, crystal shoes.

Ellie's mouth fell open. "What… how…?"

"Like it? It's certainly one of a kind," crowed Ursula, grinning at the astonishment on Andrina's face. "But I'm afraid this little charm won't last long; the effect wears off at midnight. If you're not out by then, you'll be standing in a puddle, looking rather foolish."

In spite of her misgivings, Andrina was flush with pleasure. "Thank you," she said sincerely, eyes swimming once again. "But I don't think I can repay you for this."

The witch considered a moment. "Well, I suppose we can make do with your little hair bauble," she concluded at length, motioning to Andrina's comb. "I'll hold onto it until midnight; then, I take the dress back, and you get the comb back."

That seemed unusually generous for Ursula, Andrina felt; still, as she saw no other alternative, she took the shell out of her hair and handed it over. Her hair flopped down over her head, hanging in a loose fringe about her ears.

Ursula took the comb, smiling fiercely. "Better hurry along, then; midnight approaches. Ta-ta, dears." With a last wave, she sank back into the water. The pool rippled, then was still once more, looking as if it had never changed.

For a moment or two, Andrina only gaze down at her new dress, admiring its loveliness; whatever her intentions, Ursula's magic was still marvelous.

Ellie found her voice first, breaking into Andrina's thoughts. "Well, come on, then! You should hurry! Like she said, there's no time to waste!"

This roused Andrina from her reverie. Pushing her hair back, she picked up her skirts, so as not to trip, and made for the back door.

"Hold on; not like that!" Digging into her pocket, Ellie pulled out a thin, curved white band, which she set on Andrina's head, pushing aside her bangs. "I was going to give you this anyway; it doesn't quite match, but it'll keep your hair out of your face." Standing back, she gave a good, long look. "Now you're perfect."

Fairly glowing with joy, Andrina clasped Ellie's hands. "I just want to say thank you; you have done so much for me; just thank you so much, for everything."

Ellie smiled warmly. "I'm just glad knowing you're happy. Now, go, before you miss anything!" She waved her off, shooing her through the door.

Feeling much happier than a short while ago, Andrina picked up her skirts and hastily made her way back inside.

The ball was a splendid affair; many noble gentlemen and ladies from all corners of the country were already present, and many others were arriving by the minute. At that moment, all the eligible maidens were being presented to Prince Charming himself, in the half-hopes that one of them would be chosen as his bride.

And said prince was having none of it. Already bored to death with the state of affairs, he couldn't help occasionally glaring enviously up at the king, sitting comfortably up in his box, completely undisturbed by anyone. The introductions alone were taking forever; why was it customary to be introduced to every single woman in the court? Particularly ones he already knew, like his cousins, Anastasia and Drizella?

But all other thoughts were soon put to rest at the sight of a lovely, unknown princess making her way into the room. Aside from being beautiful, not to mention wearing a splendid gown, she was the first quite unfamiliar face he'd seen yet. His interest peaked, he abandoned formalities and crossed the room to greet her personally.

The girl's back was turned as she gazed out, admiring the grand splendor of the hall, so the prince tapped her lightly on the shoulder and bowed. "Excuse me, Madame, how do you do?"

The girl turned, smiling radiantly. "Hello, Henry."

Henry's jaw practically hit the floor; for some time, all he could do was stare. "Andrina!?" he gasped, finding his voice at last. "But how… you're… you look…"

Andrina's face was burning with pleasure. "It's a really long story. My friend Ellie helped me find something suitable. Is it all right?" Self-consciously, she smoothed down the side.

"'All right'? I hardly recognize you!" Trying to appear casual, Henry surveyed her new attire. "This is amazing!"

"I know!" Masking her excitement, Andrina curtsied as gracefully as she could. "I know it's a little showy," she added hastily, "but it's still me in here."

Henry smiled, offering her his arm. "Of course it is. I wouldn't have anyone else."

Blushing fiercely, Andrina daintily took his arm, and together they walked to the center of the dance floor. At a look from Henry, the king began waving frantically to his musicians, who struck up a pleasant waltz. Tentatively, Andrina took the prince's hands, apprehensively holding her breath.

"It's okay," Henry murmured to her. "We'll go slow; just follow where I step."

And somehow, very carefully, they began to dance across the floor. By focusing all her attention on Henry alone, Andrina managed to not stumble, even in the ridiculously tall shoes. The next few minutes seemed to float by as if they were the only two in the world, despite all the curious whispers that were now circulating through the room. Who was the mysterious princess? Did anyone know her? Where had she come from? No one seemed to have an answer to any of these questions, but it was obvious that the prince at least was quite taken with her, which was seemed especially true, since he didn't bother changing partners through several dances that followed.

After the guests had their fill of dancing, dinner was served with spectacular grandeur. As she had only ever eaten with the servants, Andrina had never seen half of the strange, exotic-looking dishes the human royals regularly feasted on. It was so intriguing that she heaped up her plate with small portions of everything, as long as it wasn't meat. She could pick out anything obviously fish easily enough, but it was harder to tell if it was an odd color.

"Hungry tonight?" Henry inquired amusedly as Andrina began stockpiling from a heap of leafy greens, the only obvious non-fish-or-meat dish in the whole buffet. "Don't they feed you in the kitchens?"

"Oh, of course," she answered, delicately placing a small, red, round dainty on the edge of her plate. "Still, it's important to have a balanced diet, and everything looks so good I just have to try it." Henry laughed, and then courteously escorted her to sit with him.

Dinner was delicious, and afterward came a bigger, longer dance Henry called a "gallop." It was quite invigorating, but left Andrina quite sweaty and out of breath. Fortunately, a few slower waltzes followed it. Soon, however, she had a mind to leave off the dancing; over Henry's shoulder, she caught a glimpse of Lady Tremaine's disapproving scowl from the crowd. Quickly she looked away, hoping she wouldn't be recognized.

Henry noted her panicked expression. "What is it?"

"Let's go outside after this," Andrina whispered back. "No one else really knows I'm here, and I'd really prefer it to stay that way."

"Oh," replied the prince, mildly surprised. Nonetheless, he consented, and they carefully danced their way out of the ballroom, heading for the doors leading to the castle grounds. As the desire of privacy was clearly indicated by their departure, a nearby page dropped a curtain over the door after them.

"There," sighed Henry, stepping away again and bowing. "Safe away from prying eyes." He gave her a quizzical look. "But why all the secrecy?"

Andrina bit back a sigh. "It's pretty complicated; a really, really long story."

"Well, how about we sit down and have it out?" Henry motioned to a nearby stone bench. They sat, and for a while said nothing, admiring the beautiful night. The stars were out and bright, twinkling like the moonlight on the sea. Andrina fidgeted a little with her skirt while Henry looked at her expectantly.

"You remember what I said about my father, right?" she began hesitantly.

The prince nodded. "You mentioned a falling out, yeah."

"Well…" Andrina took a moment to swallow. "I didn't exactly tell him where I was going, so none of my family knows where I am right now."

Henry's mouth pinched sympathetically, and he laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I guess they must be really worried by now."

Andrina nodded mutely, trying not to focus more on the gentle warmth of his touch. "I didn't really mean to run away like that; it's just… so hard to talk to him, especially when he's all worked up and not listening."

"I understand," said Henry, pulling her close in a hug.

Andrina closed her eyes, resting her head on his shoulder. "I just thought it would be different here, you know? Like, maybe people here did things differently than at home, and don't get mad and hold grudges and fight over dumb things…"

"Well, it's not really that different anywhere," murmured Henry, slowly turning towards her. "We're all just people; that's just how we are. We can act better than some people sometimes, but really, no one is better or worse than anyone else."

"Yes," whispered Andrina, her lips drawing nearer to meet his. She felt that this was the most perfect moment of her life.

That is, until the clock struck midnight.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

_**Seventeen**_

 _Bong, bong, bong_ , came the first tolls of the bells of the great clock tower.

Andrina leapt to her feet. "Oh!"

"What is it?" asked Henry, rising with her.

"I have to go," Andrina explained hastily. "I can't be out past midnight."

Henry gave her a bemused look. "What, you have a curfew?"

"Sort of." Andrina backed hastily away. "Like I said, it's a long story; I'll explain later. Goodbye!" With that, she turned and fled back through the way they'd come.

"Hey, wait!" Henry hurried after her, pushing aside the curtain; he was immediately mobbed by a gaggle of other ladies, peppering him with questions on his long absence.

 _Bong, bong, bong_ , the clock sounded off. Andrina hurried through the crowd with several hasty apologies, trying not to trip over her own feet. _Bong, bong, bong_ , went the clock as she came to the end of the ballroom and rushed down the stairs. It was hard luck when one of her shoes fell off, particularly as she had no time to go back and get it. Quickly wrestling the other one off, she carried it and ran as fast as she could; much faster, now; down the front steps and into the shadow of the wall by the servant's door. _Bong, bong, BONG_.

And with the final toll, Andrina stumbled back into the small garden, back in the tattered dress and drenched from head to heel in water. Ellie was waiting for her beside the pool, her face very pale, but very relieved.

Andrina plunked down on the bench, gasping for air. "Okay; let's not do that again soon."

"Are you okay?" Ellie hissed, sitting down next to her. "You were gone so long; I didn't know if you would make it—"

"Well, I did," panted Andrina hoarsely, shaking off her dripping hands. Then, she couldn't help but smile. "Just in time."

Ellie's eyes were glowing. "Well, how was it?"

"Wonderful," sighed Andrina wistfully. "It was so great. Henry and I; the prince, I mean; we danced for ages and ages; it was so much fun! And I didn't fall once," she added proudly, holding up the shoe she hadn't dropped.

Ellie frowned, staring at the shoe. "Wait, weren't those supposed to turn back into water?"

Andrina blinked, then stared at the shoe. It hadn't melted away at all, like the dress had. "Well I did drop one; maybe they'll only do that if they're together." She ran a finger over the edge of the slipper, blissfully contented with the whole affair.

Ellie smiled at her friend's happiness, then started. "Oh, and that magic woman must have left this for you." She drew Andrina's pink shell out of her apron pocket.

Andrina took the shell and put it back in its place on her head. "Thanks for hanging onto it." She couldn't help but wonder what the witch wanted it for; still, that wasn't her first priority as she shivered in her wet clothes when a cool breeze sprang up.

Ellie rose to her feet. "Well, you should probably get dried off before anyone gets suspicious. If Mistress Prudence sees you like that, you'll catch more than a cold." Taking Andrina's hand, they made their way back inside, still buzzing with excitement from their grand adventure.

The moon shone brightly over the castle on land, but its beams did little to penetrate the dark depths of the ocean. In her lair, Ursula was glaring into her crystal bubble with some ferocity. The shell had come in handy; after certain enchantments were laid on it, Ursula now had the ability to keep a close eye on the sea princess. Since it was her magic arts that had made Andrina's gown possible, she had been able to monitor the entire night's progress, and it did little to comfort her present mood.

"That was a close one," she muttered fiercely to herself, clenching and unclenching her fists in a frenzy. "Too close! The little tramp! She's better than I thought," she grumbled, swimming to her cupboard and whipping out various ingredients. If a second attempt ever occurred, she was certain Andrina would succeed in winning her humanity. Well, she'd soon see to that; the time had come to start pulling the strings she had at her disposal.

"Flotsam! Jetsam!" she barked to her eels. "I want you to stop by the sea king's palace; there's a certain mermaid I'm interested in seeing. We have important business to discuss."

The castle of Atlantica was dark and still, with only moonbeams lighting the towers with a cold, silver gleam. Although the lights were out, not all were asleep; Adella lay awake, staring at the barnacles on the ceiling. For many nights now she had wondered what Andrina could possibly be up to up there on land, whether or not she was getting decent food, what sorts of things she'd seen and done so far; not to mention how much time she and the prince had spent together. But now, she had to wonder about something else; like what were the two strange, eerie points of yellow light coming in through the window.

Frowning, Adella got up to investigate. She was shocked when she realized what it was; drifting in on the evening tide came the sea witch's eel henchmen, both gazing maliciously at her. "I… What are you doing here?" she whispered, misgiving growing in the pit of her stomach.

The eels grinned, circling round her. Before they explained themselves, they nudged her out of the open window, to avoid disturbing any of her sleeping sisters. "Don't be scared," the first hissed tenderly. "The time has come for you to repay our mistress."

Adella's blood froze. "But… w-what does she want from me?"

"We don't know," purred the second eel, continuing to nudge her along. "Undoubtedly, she'll tell you when we get there."

Once the eels had exited the room, a stirring came from the bed beside the window. Ariel peered over the sill, watching as her sister hurried away with the eels. "Attina!" she hissed, reaching across to prod Attina's shoulder. "Something's wrong; get up!"

Attina moaned, rolling reluctantly over. "Ariel, it's past midnight; go back to sleep."

"Look!" Ariel pointed at Adella's empty bed. "Adella snuck out; she's not here."

Frowning, Attina sat up, rubbing her eyes. "What? What are you talking about?"

Without waiting for further arousal, Ariel pulled Attina over to the window. "Look there! What is she doing?"

Attina became alert as she registered what was happening. "Who are they? They look shady."

Ariel glanced nervously at her sister. "Do you think this has something to do with Andrina?"

"I think it's time to find out," muttered Attina, heading out through the window herself. "Stay here," she whispered over her shoulder.

Ariel snorted, cautiously following. "No way."

Attina rolled her eyes. "Fine, but stay close and be quiet."

"Duh," Ariel muttered, plowing vigorously on ahead, and just avoiding colliding with a large stone pillar.

The sea witch had not long to wait; before the hour was up, the eels returned, corralling between them a mightily unhappy mermaid. "Ah, darling, welcome back," she drawled, turning to greet her guest. "We have so much catching up to do."

"A lot," Adella agreed stiffly, avoiding any and all contact with the eels. "Care to explain to me what I'm doing here?"

Ursula sneered pleasantly over at her. "You're charming, really. I hope you remembered the little agreement we made not too long ago? I think this as good a time as any to cash in."

"Yes, I remember," snapped Adella, glaring at the eels and moving away from them. "Although I don't happen to recall giving you permission to summon me at whatever hour of your fancy. My family will get suspicious if I go missing for long."

Ursula chuckled. "Well, then, it's a good thing it won't be for that long." Seizing a few bottles from one of her numerous potion stores, she tossed them casually into her cauldron, where they abruptly exploded. Adelle jumped, which made Ursula grin. "Oh, don't worry; this won't involve anything painful."

Neither witch nor princess nor the eels noticed two stealthy figures peering cautiously through the teeth of the monstrous cave. Laying a finger to her lips, Attina motioned for Ariel to keep near the ceiling; then, slowly, they eased their way forward into the cave.

"And what exactly do you want me to do, hm?" inquired Adella tersely, trying to appear less frightened than she actually was.

"Well, that's quite an interesting story." Ursula rifled through her cupboards and pulled out a small, glass bubble containing a strange, beautiful creature which was probably a butterfly (everyone knew of sea butterflies, so it wasn't a difficult guess), which she cast mercilessly into her concoction. "See, it involves a special, particular someone you might know." From somewhere behind her, the witch pulled out a tiny, sparkling object on a chain.

Adella gasped. "That's Andrina's!"

"It _was_ ," corrected Ursula. "She traded it to me for her legs; it's mine now, to do with as I please." She gave Adella a nasty grin. "And precisely what I intend to do with it; well, my dear, that is where you come in."

Holding the necklace out over the potion, the witch threw one last handful of an unknown substance into her cauldron. There was a bright flash, followed by the stench of sulfur. A yellow phosphorescence dribbled out of the cauldron, floating up and around the witch. The necklace began to glow a brilliant, hot gold, sucking up the light like a sponge. At the end, the light faded, but the necklace burned as brightly as the sun.

Grinning greedily, Ursula held it out to Adella. "There, now; all you need to do is put this on. The rest will work itself out."

Gingerly, Adella took the necklace. She almost dropped it, it was so warm, but she held it close to her nose, squinting mistrustfully at it. "What does it do?"

"Oh, come, now; don't you like surprises?" Ursula chuckled. "It won't bite; it's perfectly safe. Of course," she added, "you'll want to head up to the surface before you put it on."

"And why would that be?" Adella demanded.

"Hm, I guess you don't like surprises," sneered the witch, drifting lazily around behind her. "You wanted to keep a closer eye on your sister, didn't you? Well, here's the way to do it; now, you can just go there yourself and find out."

Adella almost dropped the necklace in shock. "This… this will give me… _legs_?"

"It's as simple as that," Ursula acknowledged coaxingly, flicking the dangling pendant with the end of a tentacle. "As long as you're wearing it, you'll be as human as any."

Adelle hesitated, staring hard at Ursula. "And what do you get out of this? After all, this is my favor to you."

Ursula chuckled appreciatively. "Well, you're not so dumb as you look. All you need to do is keep up with your sister's darling prince. Stay around him, and I'll consider your debt paid."

"And if I don't?" Adella challenged testily.

"I'd think carefully about that before you tried anything," warned Ursula, smiling not-quite-so-sweetly. "There's more than one person you have to consider for this. Think of your sister; what should happen to her if anything went wrong?" Holding up her hand, she conjured the gleaming, golden scroll with Adella's name shining at the end. "We did make a deal, after all."

Torn with indecision, Adella bit her lip, glancing around. She had been painted into a corner; no doubt the witch's intent; and it was by her own doing. There seemed no way out of it.

"All right," she sighed, taking the necklace and earning a malicious grin from Ursula.

In the tunnel, Attina and Ariel watched the exchange. As swiftly as they dared, they darted back out of the cave to what safety there was left in the open water.

"So that's where she went," murmured Attina as the pieces fell into place. "That explains why no one's found her; she's on _land_!"

"This has gotten way, way out of hand," whispered Ariel, white-faced. "Everyone knows not to trust the sea witch! What are we going to do?" She clasped her sister's hand, almost in tears.

"At this point, the only thing we can do," said Attina determinedly. "We have to tell Daddy."

It was roughly three in the morning as Prince Charming stood at his balcony, fingering the single, crystal slipper left behind at the ball. In the distance, the sea was still and calm, a far cry from his mind at the moment; especially with the grand duke's fearful pestering at his elbow.

"Now, your Highness," the duke pleaded, "your father will expect an explanation for tonight's events. What do you intend to tell him? that you are taken with a mysterious girl, who disappeared as suddenly as she arrived, leaving nothing but a glass slipper? What will you do?"

"I'll explain everything to Father when I'm ready for it," the prince told him, still gazing at the sea. He already knew who the mystery princess was, and had made up his mind to speak to his father about her. "When I find her again," he said to the duke, "I'm going to marry her."

"Oh, marvelous, your Highness!" cried the duke, thrilled. "That is wonderful news! But how are you to find her? Do you mean to try the slipper on every girl in the kingdom?"

"Of course not," said Henry, laughing. "This shoe could fit any number of girls. Trust me, I'll know her when I see her."

As he gazed out at the sea, listening to the gentle rush of waves lapping against the shore, his ear caught another sound, distant, but steadily drawing nearer: a voice, singing. Frowning, Henry leaned over the balcony. "Can you hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked the duke, peering in the same direction.

Out on the shore of the sea, the figure of a girl was walking along the beach, singing sweetly into the night. Henry stared at her, puzzled by her presence. Something small and bright was shining on her, something that seemed to glow with an ethereal light that grew brighter as the music drifted up on the wind, filling his ears, overflowing his senses, and clouding over his mind…


	18. Chapter Eighteen

_**Eighteen**_

Andrina was awakened very late the next morning by a scream that made her sit straight up in bed, pale and trembling. The perpetrator of the sound was Ellie, who came bursting suddenly into the room and began dancing about in great excitement. "You've done it, you've done it, you've really done it!"

"Done what?" cried Andrina, rather shaken; judging by the light from the hall windows, it was well past full daylight. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?" She leapt out of bed and scrambled to get dressed.

"I didn't want to disturb you," Ellie explained, closing the door and spinning gleefully around. "You had quite a night last night; but it was so worth it! Oh, haven't you heard?"

"No, I've been sleeping!" answered Andrina, a little sharply. "What's going on?"

"It was only announced this morning," sang Ellie happily, still dancing with her elation. "The whole castle's talking about it; and the whole town, too, for all I know; all about the prince's new engagement!"

Andrina's heart gave a lurch. "What… you mean…?"

" _He's getting married_!" Ellie squealed, taking her by the hands and swinging her around the room. "This is fantastic!"

Andrina could hardly breathe, her head suddenly spinning. From the looks of it, her wildest dream had come true in just over a week. Could it possibly be…?

Ellie let go, dashing out of the room as soon as Andrina was ready. "I don't know any more than that. I just wanted to let you know; I've got to get back to the kitchen. There's so much work to be done now, for the wedding and all. Catch you later!" she called before skipping off down the hall.

For a few seconds, Andrina could only stare after her, stunned. Then, she jumped up and raced down the hall, filled with a sudden urgency to find Henry. Briefly skidding to a halt in front of a silver mirror to adjust her comb, she hurried down to the foyer… and halted at the top of the steps, staring in disbelief.

The Tremaines were in the middle of the foyer, standing with their backs to her; but that wasn't what had made her stop. Standing in front of them was the prince, looking more starched and stiff than he ever had. At his side, tightly clinging to his elbow, was a woman Andrina had never seen in her life.

"Well, Highness," said Lady Tremaine serenely, "it appears your mystery maiden has turned up after all. You have our sincere congratulations." She curtsied, motioning for her daughters to show their respects.

"Congratulations," Anastasia and Drizella echoed.

Andrina stumbled back, reeling in shock. A thick darkness hung before her eyes, as if she'd been temporarily blinded. It couldn't be possible; there had to be some sort of mistake. Trying to stifle her ragged breathing, she pressed herself against the wall, listening intently.

"When do you intend to be married?" inquired Lady Tremaine politely.

"In three days," Henry replied. "We will hold the wedding at sunset aboard the king's finest flagship."

"Very good, Highness," the lady affirmed. "We look forward to the occasion. I hope you and the prince find happiness together." With this, she and her girls sauntered off down the hall, fortunately not heading back upstairs to their chambers.

"Well," said Henry, beaming brightly. "Shall we take a stroll through the castle? There's a few more people I'd love to introduce you to."

"I hope one of them was me." Andrina stepped out of hiding, forcing an overly cheerful smile onto her face. "Who's your new friend?"

The mystery girl gave a guilty start and ducked her head a little, her face hidden by her long, dark hair. Henry, however, looked pleasantly surprised. "Oh, hey, Andrina. There's someone I'd like you to meet."

"Oh, um…" Tentatively, the girl turned, glancing timidly up at Andrina. "It's okay; we've met."

Andrina froze, staring in disbelief. "What… How…?"

"Hey," Adella greeted with a half-hearted wave.

Mastering her shock, Andrina closed her mouth, then asked, "Hi. Um, how long have you been here?"

Adella gave a helpless shrug, smiling sheepishly. "Oh, uh, since yesterday night. It's, ah, quite a story."

Henry looked thoroughly confused. "Wait, you two know each other already?"

"Yep, sure do," Andrina replied, throwing a rather fixed smile at Adella. "We're sisters."

"Oh!" Henry stared between them, registering the resemblances. "Well, that's great!"

Andrina smiled at Henry, then shot Adella a hard look. "So, sister dear, what exactly are you doing here?"

"Oh, ah…" Adella fidgeted, glancing guiltily at the floor. "Just thought I'd come by and… visit, make sure you were okay, and all." She bit her lip, noting her sister's expression. "You are okay, aren't you?"

Andrina gave a laugh, her face growing very warm. "Oh, yeah, I'm great; I'm doing fabulous right now."

Wincing a little, Adella gave Henry an apologetic smile. "Um, is it okay if I speak with my sister alone for a bit? I mean, I haven't seen her in a while, and we've got to catch up on so many things and all…"

"Of course," Henry nodded, courteously kissing her hand. "I'll be waiting in the gallery." Stepping back, he headed out and down the hall.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Andrina faced Adella. "What is going on? What did you do?"

"I'm so sorry," pleaded Adella, clasping Andrina's hands. "I really didn't mean to; I didn't know—"

"Oh, come on!" snapped Andrina hotly, her voice rising. "I mean, _engaged_ to the prince? What are you doing here? Why would you even—" She stopped herself before she carried to hysteria, taking a few deep breaths. "How did you even get here? Did you talk to the sea witch?"

"I swear, it was completely an accident," Adella explained, speaking rapidly. "I just wanted to know what was going on, and she was there, and we made a deal; I don't know how, and now—" She broke off, holding back tears. After swallowing with an effort, she said, "She gave this to me." She tugged the little gold pendant around her neck. "She did something to it, and it gave me legs, just like you."

A cold chill went through Andrina. "I traded that to Ursula. Henry gave that to me; it was a special gift from him." Her heart began pounding so hard it hurt with her rising panic. "You have to take it off."

"I can't," said Adella weakly. "If I do, I'll change back."

"You've got to!" implored Andrina. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted that witch. Whatever she did to it, it's done something to Henry. He would never do this; please, just take it off!"

"I _can't_!" Adella repeated desperately. "Believe me, I really would if I could. I had no idea it would do this, but the sea witch said she would do something to you if I didn't." She hung her head, her hand clenched tightly over the pendant. "I'm so sorry; if I'd know this would happen, I would never have done it. I never wanted to hurt you."

"Well, you did!" Andrina flashed, turning away. "I'm just as sorry as you."

Adella raised a hand helplessly. "Andrina, please; we've got three days. I'll figure something out, I'll find a way to fix this—"

"I hope you do." Andrina turned away, forcing her tears not to flow. "I'd finally found one thing in this world that made me happy, Adella; did you have to come and ruin it?" She marched up the stairs, calling over her shoulder, "If you hurt him, I will never forgive you!"

"I won't," Adella promised in a whisper.

Andrina made it back to the servants' hall before she finally collapsed, curled in a corner behind the door, silently sobbing into her apron.

On Andrina's part, the rest of the day passed through work; she tried to forget everything she'd ever known that wasn't dusting, sweeping, polishing, and cleaning with a fury. Even Lady Tremaine didn't make any objections, despite the fact that she had been incredibly late; it was also comforting that no mention of the dress incident was made.

Ellie was absent all day, probably kept busy with preparations for the wedding, which was fine by Andrina, since she didn't feel like talking to anyone anyway. She skipped lunch to save time and finish more chores, as well as to avoid the company she didn't want.

It was Adella who received the pleasure of dining with the human royal court. As she was new and terribly frightened of any and all she met, she had clung fiercely to the prince's side throughout the day. Still, it was all just as fascinating, seeing the human world up close.

"This is our private dining hall, when we don't have parties," the prince told her as he led her into a large room with a long table laden with strange foods. "My father will be joining us momentarily."

Adella suddenly gasped, picking up one of the forks laid at a nearby plate. "Oh my gosh!" She held it close, tweaking one of the tines. "It's like a little mini-trident; it's so cute!"

Henry stared at her in amused confusion. Blushing fiercely, Adella laid the utensil back in its place. "Um, everything looks fantastic."

"Great." Henry pulled out her chair for her, then sat down beside her. "Now, I know your sister doesn't eat meat; do you?"

"Oh, no," Adella replied quickly; whatever Andrina had chosen was probably safe enough.

Smiling, Henry waved to one of the servants standing nearby. "Bring in the soup, please." The servant nodded, then hurried off to comply. Adella sat, idly swinging her legs and looking around. It was a beautiful dining hall; the walls and ceiling were decorated with fancy, gold trim work, long, red hangings were placed on either end of the windows, and the chairs were cushioned with soft, red pillows.

"Oh! I almost forgot." Rummaging around under the table for a moment, Henry pulled out a tiny box. "I want to do this officially." Getting out of his chair, he knelt on one knee and offered up the box, opening it. "Will you marry me?"

Adella gasped. In the box, nestled on a small cushion, was a magnificent ring. She'd seen plenty of engagement rings before, but they were usually only set with pearls or colored pebbles. This was as if a star had descended from the heavens and come to rest on a band of gold.

Henry's eyes sparkled. "Is that a yes?"

Adella gave a nervous laugh, blushing ferociously, her mind immediately flying to Andrina. What else could she do? Slowly, hesitantly, she took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger, earning a radiant smile from the prince.

Just behind them suddenly came a clatter. Whirling round in her seat, Adella saw a servant girl pushing a strange contraption on which sat a large bowl of hot, steaming liquid. It smelled wonderful, even from here, but Adella was puzzled by the shocked look on the girl's face.

Henry looked up. "Oh. Hello, there."

The girl bowed slightly, pushing the strange device closer. "Forgive me for intruding, your Highness; I've, ah, brought your soup."

Henry climbed to his feet. "Thank you." He waved a hand, and two other servants approached, lifted the bowl off its carrier, and set it on the table. Quickly, the girl bowed again and hurried away, still staring at Adella over her shoulder.

At the other end of the room, a large door opened and an attendant stepped in. "His Imperial Majesty the King, and his Royal Highness the Grand Duke." Henry rose obligingly, and Adella followed suit as the king and duke entered.

The king was actually quite short; a jovial little fellow with bright eyes. As soon as he'd clapped eyes on her, he smiled broadly. "Well, so this is the woman you intend to marry, eh?" Striding forward, he took Adella's hand and bowed grandly. "I'm thrilled to meet you, my dear; many happy returns to you both."

"Ah, thank you," said Adella, face reddening.

Henry took her hand, gazing deeply into her eyes. "All the stars are shining brighter, Dad, just like you said."

Adella managed a smile, dropping her gaze to the sparkling ring on her finger.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

_**Nineteen**_

It was not until late in the morning the next day when Ellie managed to find an opportunity to talk to Andrina. By that point, Andrina had finished her morning chores and shut herself up in her room. Sitting on her bed, she was holding her remaining slipper, thoughtfully running her hand over its smooth, glossy surface. She didn't even look up when the door opened and Ellie entered. "Um, hey," she greeted, sounding rather uncomfortable.

"Hi," Andrina replied monotonously.

Ellie fidgeted nervously, shuffling her feet. "So… How are you?"

"I am just fantastic," said Andrina shortly, still not looking up.

Ellie bit her lip. "Well, then. Ah, did you and the prince, um… have a falling out?"

That caught Andrina's full attention. "Of course not! He would never do that to anyone. It just… wasn't that sort of friendship."

Ellie's eyes narrowed. "Okay, there's definitely something wrong with this. You're closer to the prince than anyone else here; not to mention a _magic fairy_ appears out of nowhere to set you up, and suddenly, literally the day after your big night, he just engages himself to a random girl no one's ever met? This is so not normal! What's going on here?"

Andrina sighed, fighting the lump in her throat. "Nothing you would understand; it's way too complicated for me to get into right now." Carefully stowing the slipper in her apron pocket, she got up. "I have to get back to work, and I'm sure you do, too. You'll get in trouble with Mistress Prudence if you're gone too long."

She made to leave, but Ellie stopped her. "No, we have to figure this out. This just isn't fair!"

Andrina gave a sad smile. "'Fair' means everyone gets the same thing; when has life ever been that?"

"Oh, come one, Andrina!" cried Ellie exasperatedly. "You can't just sit here and let people walk all over you!"

Andrina turned away, hugging her arms. "Well, nobody cares, anyway; and neither do I."

"But _I_ do," said Ellie firmly, taking Andrina's hand. "Don't worry; we'll fix this somehow, I promise."

Andrina managed a watery smile. "Thanks."

By noon, Andrina was worn to the bone; she'd been hurrying hither and thither at the Tremaines' whims, collecting fabrics, laundry, and sewing supplies and sending them to their respective places. In spite of the fact that they were not marrying the prince, Anastasia and Drizella wanted to look their best for the royal wedding. All throughout preparation, they argued, bickered, and complained over the whole affair.

"Mother," Anastasia ranted, wildly waving a lovely satin sash about, "I don't see why everybody else seems to have such nice things to wear, and I always end up in these old rags! This sash!" She threw it to the floor in contempt. "Why, I wouldn't be seen dead in it!"

"You should talk," snorted Drizella, flinging a string of beads at her sister. "These beads; I'm sick of looking at them; trash!"

At a stern look from Lady Tremaine, Andrina gathered up the girls' things as they were thrown mercilessly about, trying to concentrate on the simple task at hand.

"Now, girls," Lady Tremaine quieted her daughters, "do recall that this is a formal event; regardless of how you appear, it is how you present yourselves that will matter more."

Drizella must have noted Andrina's mouth twitch, for she demanded, "What are you snickering at?"

Andrina glanced listlessly up. "Huh? Sorry."

"You'd better take this," said Anastasia, throwing a dress on top of the stack of oddments in Andrina's arms. "And my slippers, too; don't forget." She began piling several items on top of the growing pile.

Drizella joined in, throwing her own laundry at her. "Take my dress; here. The buttonholes need mending!"

"I need my skirt pressed, too," added Anastasia sharply, adding this item to the stack. "And tell them to mind the ruffle; they're always tearing it."

Andrina was trying not to overbalance, and also to remember which things went where. "Anything else?" she grunted unhappily.

Lady Tremaine pounced gladly on that. "Yes; when you're finished with your regular chores, I have a few little things."

"Very well." Swaying slightly, Andrina made her way carefully to the door and out into the hall, barely able to grasp the handle of the door to close it behind her. As soon as it had closed, she took one step forward and bumped into someone in front of her, which, of course, spilled everything from her arms to the floor.

"Oh! I'm sorry," Andrina apologized hastily, gathering up her things; then she halted in surprise. "Oh—Adella? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see how you were," explained Adella, helping to pick up the scattered clothing.

Andrina brushed her coldly away. "I've got it. Thanks for your concern; I'm fine."

"This doesn't look 'fine' to me," hissed Adella, snatching up a skirt, rolling it up, and dropping it into Andrina's arms. "How long has it been like this?"

"You mean how long have I been working like this, or how long Henry has been enslaved by a curse?" Andrina flashed. "I'd say that last one has been since you got here."

"I told you, I'm sorry!" Adella pleaded exasperatedly. "I didn't have a choice!"

"Yes, you do!" Andrina swerved sharply around her sister, striding quickly down the hall. As luck would have it, one of her shoes came flopping off in her haste. "You can always try your charms on some other boys, like you usually do."

Adella flushed angrily. "Oh, that is low, even for you. Did you ever think there might be a reason boys just like me? Maybe Henry isn't under a spell at all; maybe you're just jealous because I'm better than you."

Andrina froze mid-effort to get her shoe back on. "Why should I be jealous of you? You're the one stringing men along like toys."

"I do not string anyone along!" snapped Adella, trying to keep her voice down against her rising temper. "At least I'm not klutzy and awkward; last I checked, princes don't usually go for weirdoes."

She regretted the words as soon as they were uttered. Andrina went white, tears starting in her eyes. "Well, I hope you're happy with yourself," she managed to throw in parting. "I don't care, as long as you make Henry happy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have something actually useful to do." Jamming her foot back in her shoe, she marched purposefully off. Snorting dismissively, Adella turned and stalked away in the opposite direction, trying to swallow the burning shame growing steadily in her chest.

Only once she was in the safety of the servants' hall did Andrina allow herself to give in to her roiling emotions. Disregarding her assortment of the Tremaines' laundry, she buried her face in it and commenced shedding hot tears. Any hope that Adella would sympathize enough to take off the necklace before tomorrow had evaporated; by the time the wedding was over, it would be too late anyway.

Her cry was interrupted by Ellie, who came bursting through the door from another passage. "Oh! Andrina, I've been looking for you—" She stopped, noting Andrina's face. "Oh, no; what's wrong?"

Andrina shook her head, quickly drying her eyes on her sleeve. "It can wait; what is it?"

Still looking concerned, Ellie sat down beside her. "I was just speaking with Mistress Prudence about you; we were talking about your wages."

"Oh, that," Andrina remembered. "I really don't care—"

"Mistress Prudence told me," Ellie plowed on undaunted, "that Lady Tremaine told her that she had already given you payment for your services."

Andrina frowned. "What? No, she didn't; I've never gotten anything but abuse from her."

"That's what I told Mistress Prudence!" Ellie told her. "And here's the thing: the mistress knew for a fact that the money had actually been sent to give you. But somehow or other, it never got there." She gave Andrina a dark, meaningful look. "I think the Tremaines have been stealing from you."

Andrina was astonished. "Did you tell Mistress Prudence?"

"Of course," said Ellie, nodding. "But she only said she would have a 'look into it,' which could mean practically nothing. We'll just have to wait and see."

Andrina sighed, bowing her head. "Yeah; more waiting."

Ellie peered closely at her, her expression deeply troubled. "I know you're not really worried about the Tremaines right now, but can you please tell me what's wrong?"

"Everything!" snapped Andrina, breaking at last and rounding on Ellie. "This whole thing has been one huge mistake right after another. I should never have come here; it's made everything worse!"

Ellie put her arms around her, wringing fresh tears from her. "I'm so sorry this has happened to you. Trust me, we're going to find a way out of this. Do you think you could ask that woman, your godmother, for help?"

Andrina snorted. "Yeah, right; she's not my godmother. To be honest, she's the one who got me into all of this."

Ellie blanched. "What? What do you mean?"

"She's a witch," Andrina clarified. "And she's using my family against me." Her throat tightened, and she lay her head on the pile of laundry. "This is all my fault; I've put everyone in danger. I should never have come!"

Ellie wavered uncertainly. "Okay, that is another issue; but don't worry, we'll figure something out. You just have to keep believing."

Andrina shook her head. "I'm tired of believing. It was never real; it was only a dream. None of it matters anymore; there's nothing left to believe in."

"Yes, there is." From Andrina's pocket, Ellie pulled out Andrina's remaining slipper. "You have proof you were there; the prince has the other one. I'm sure he hasn't completely forgotten what you had together."

Sniffing, Andrina took the slipper and looked it over. It was no different than it had been before, but a shimmer of hope flickered within her. If she could just get Henry to look at it, maybe he would remember.

"Go find him," Ellie told her, taking the pile of clothes. "I'll sort these out; you go."

"Thank you so much," said Andrina, gratefully handing over the pile. Once free from her burden, she straightened herself out as well as she could and hurried back out into the main passageway.

"Going somewhere?"

Andrina whirled. Lady Tremaine loomed sinisterly at the end of the hall, a foot tapping ominously. "Surprised?" the lady inquired, a dangerous edge in her voice. "Where exactly, may I ask, did you happen to get that?" She pointed to Andrina's hand and the forgotten the slipper she was still holding.

Far too late, Andrina hid the shoe from sight behind her back. "I—I found it. I was, um, actually hoping to find whoever… owns it."

"Indeed?" Lady Tremaine raised an eyebrow, looking smug. "I don't suppose you would mind giving it to me, then? I have a better chance of finding the owner than you."

Andrina bit her lip. "Oh, ah…"

Without waiting for consent, Lady Tremaine strode over, hand held out. "Hand it over, girl, or I shall have to report that you've been stealing again."

Reflexively, Andrina stepped back, heat flooding to her cheeks. "I haven't stolen anything; from what my friend has told me, _you've_ been the one stealing from _me_!"

"Hold your tongue!" snapped Lady Tremaine fiercely. In another moment, with amazing agility, she darted round Andrina and wrested the slipper from her. "Did you think that I wasn't aware exactly what went on at the ball?" she hissed softly. "Did you think I wouldn't recognize you there? I don't know who you are or what all this business is about, but I think it is time to put a stop to it." So saying, the lady threw the slipper across the hall, where it landed on the marble tile and shattered into a thousand fragments.

Andrina stood, numb with shock, staring at the remains of the shoe. "No…"

Lady Tremaine remained coldly civil. "You may have danced with the prince; you may have even thought there was love between you. But the prince doesn't seem to share your views, which is quite frankly something to be thankful for. He is to be married to the lady of his choosing, not a dirty little commoner like yourself. Whatever you think happened was nothing but a dream. Now, clean up this mess and get on with your work." With this, she turned and made her exit, carefully treading around the pile of broken crystal.

Andrina sank to her knees, trying to scrape the pieces together; but the fragments melted to water in her fingers as the enchantment faded away. There was nothing left now of the dream but a puddle on the floor, slowly rising as it filled with her tears.


	20. Chapter Twenty

_**Twenty**_

The wedding for Prince Charming was to be of spectacular grandeur. Preparations alone ran throughout the course of the day, with servants rushing hither and thither to make everything ready. An enormous 15-layer cake was constructed, which ran the kitchens short on flour, hundreds of roses filled every vase in the castle, and one of the footman actually broke an ankle hanging banners, and at least half a dozen more got sprains in various places.

In the midst of all the fuss, Ellie was kept very busy, running about and fetching and carrying, bringing down and sending up, and all the while (she was incredibly apt at multitasking) keeping a sharp eye out for anything out of the ordinary, or anything that might help the situation. She was of the mind that there was a very different kind of trickery afoot, and more than one person's well-being may be at stake. She had no idea how much use she could be, but, determined to be the most she could, she kept her head down, ears pricked, and eyes open.

Adella was suffering as well she might, having to formally greet and thank everyone who came to congratulate her. The prince's fixation with her proved quite helpful in this; all day, she was glued to his side in every activity, terrified of doing something wrong and not enjoying the human world as much as she might have.

Andrina was absent throughout the whole of the morning, much to the dismay of Mistress Prudence, who soon had Lady Tremaine breathing down her neck about it. To make up for it, the Tremaines were all attended by a vast array of serving girls, whenever whomever could be spared had an available moment.

In all the court, only one particular person verbally expressed real concern for the evening's events. The captain of the prince's marriage barge, old Grimes, had been eyeing the weather with a doubtful skepticism. "Not a good day for it, I'd say," he informed his men gravely. "Oughtn't to have been today; looks like a nor'easter's on the way, it does. 'Ere, smell that in the air? There's that feel of it on the wind; at the very least, there'll be thunder tonight."

Regardless of any misgivings, the afternoon was splendid; the sun shone on the glistening sea, its late rays turning the clouds pink and orange. The wedding barge was decked out in fine garlands, polished to pristine order and all its flags flying high. The wedding itself would be taking place at sunset; at half past five, a huge crowd of people had gathered at the docks, waiting for the procession to board and set sail. By order of the king, everyone in the castle had been invited aboard; even the scullery servants.

At last, the royal procession made its way down to the barge. The crowds cheered and waved as Prince Charming and his bride ascended the gangplank along with the king, the duke, and all the nobles of the court. Once all had boarded, the vessel put forth into a golden sea beneath a radiant sunset.

It was fifteen minutes before the official wedding was about to begin. Adella sat alone in her dressing room, fidgeting with the golden pendant about her neck. She had learned enough of human clothing to properly understand how to dress, but that wasn't her biggest concern at the moment. She knew what she ought to do what she really wanted to do, but she was afraid; the memory of the sea witch's mocking face was still close to her heart. If she did not relent, Ursula would do something dreadful to her sister; if she did, Andrina would be miserable for the rest of her life. Either decision would have the same result: losing her sister.

There came a knock as one of the maids put her head in. "Pardon me, your grace?"

"I'll be there in a minute," Adella sighed, carefully stowing the necklace out of sight.

The maid surprised her by entering and closing the door. "I'm afraid we don't have any time to waste. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but I don't think you should marry the prince."

Adella turned, her face a shade paler. "I beg your pardon?"

The maid curtsied politely, though her face was grimly set. "Please forgive my intrusion, Madame; my name is Ellie. I've been watching things for a while now, and I think you should be told that there's something not quite right afoot here."

Adella self-consciously fidgeted with her hair. "What do you mean, 'not quite right'?"

Ellie glanced around, as if someone might be watching, then lowered her voice. " _Magic_. I know it sounds crazy, but a lot of strange things have happened in the past few days alone. Do you know about the prince's friend, Andrina? She's another servant girl here, and–"

The look on Adella's face explained all. "Yes, I know her. I mean, I know about her."

"Then you must understand!" Ellie implored. "She and the prince had something; something real. I could tell; I saw how they were together. I don't know if you meant to or not, but I think you might have done something to the prince; he's not himself anymore."

"Please go," said Adella, knotting her trembling hands. "I-I have to get ready."

Ellie curtsied again, making her exit. "Very well. The choice is yours; you can believe me or not. All I ask is that you consider what else is at stake."

Just as the door was closing, Adella turned. "Wait!"

Ellie halted. "What?"

"Is… is she here?" Adella asked quietly.

Ellie shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't seen her, but I'll check to see if she's here." She turned and went out, closing the door behind her.

"Thank you," Adella whispered, wringing her hands.

Beneath the wedding pavilion set up on deck, all the guests had assembled, with the servants gathered behind the elite, waiting for the ceremony to begin. Those in back were standing on tiptoe, craning their necks so as not to miss anything. The king and the duke were situated in the bow, along with the priest performing the ceremony. The Tremaines had placed themselves at the very front of the pavilion, so they should not miss being at the center of the important occasion. At the back of the pavilion, a small organ had been set up, where sat the player, who was busily squinting at his pocket watch. Then, cracking his knuckles, he wiggled his fingers over the keys and began the wedding march.

From the end of the pavilion, the prince and his bride began slowly down the aisle. All heads were bared as they passed up to the altar, where the king was fairly dancing with eagerness.

Biting her lip, Adella glanced around, surveying the crowd. Even though she'd been formally introduced to many lords and ladies in the court, there was still no one familiar here except the king. She couldn't see many faces in the back row, which gave her no indication of whether or not her sister was there.

Henry's hand gave hers a reassuring squeeze. "I wish my mother could have met you; this is just what she would have wanted."

That brought to Adella's mind the thought of her own mother; had she known what was going on, she certainly would not have held the same opinion. Gulping, Adella glanced at the horizon. The golden sunlight glinted off of the buttons on Henry's jacket, and also off of something else just inside his pocket.

"What's that?" Adella asked, nodding to the mysterious lump.

"What, this?" Henry pulled it out, showing it to her before stowing it once more. It was an ancient, gold pendant. "A present from Andrina, for luck."

They had reached the end of the pavilion. All the guests gathered around as the priest cleared his throat. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered on this most joyous occasion…"

Adella looked hurriedly around. There was still no sign of Andrina; had she been too upset and skipped out?

"Who are you looking for?" Henry whispered to her.

"My sister," Adella murmured back. "I don't know if she came."

Henry frowned, puzzled. "Why not?"

Adella swallowed nervously. "We… had a bit of a fight yesterday; I haven't seen her since."

"Over what?"

The priest glanced up, mildly annoyed. "Do you, Prince Charming, take this woman's hand to be your lawfully wedded wife for as long as you both shall live?"

Relaxing slightly, Henry turned to the priest. "I—"

"Wait!" Adella pulled out the pendant on its chain and held it up before the prince's eyes. "Do you recognize this at all?"

Henry stared at it, his vision clouding over slightly. "Hey, I gave that to—"

"My sister, yes," Adella finished quickly. She pressed the pendant into his hand, clasping it fervently. "And she gave you this. Can you remember how you felt about her?"

The prince looked rather dizzy, glancing down at their interlocked fingers. "I…"

The priest cleared his throat. "Pardon me, my dear, but I'm trying to conduct a ceremony; _yours_ , if I'm not mistaken."

"But there _has_ been a mistake." Adella turned to the crowd, raising her voice. "I'm not in love with the prince!"

There was a collective gasp and rush of murmuring. The king looked baffled, the duke was stunned, and Henry closed his eyes and rubbed his head, as if trying to recall something.

"I, um, well…" the king fumbled for words. "That is, ah, rather unfortunate, I agree—"

"But I know the one who is," Adella plunged on. "It's my sister, Andrina!"

There was a second collective gasp, and several of the courtly women had to sit down.

"Good heavens!" cried the king.

"Sisters?" cried Anastasia and Drizella, gaping at one another.

"What on earth is going on?" moaned the duke, bewildered.

"She's telling the truth!" said another voice. The crowd parted, and Ellie came dashing up, holding a shining slipper aloft. "This is the slipper left behind by the mystery girl at the ball that the prince found. That girl was Andrina!"

Lady Tremaine now advanced onto the scene. "How dare you tamper with his Highness' personal belongings!"

Henry raised a hand. "Never mind, it's all right; bring it here."

Ellie complied, placing the shoe in the prince's hand. A new light came into his face as he looked at it. "Yes, she was the girl!" he announced. "I've known her for quite some time, actually," he added, turning to his father. "We've met before, on the beach."

"Now, your Highness," said Lady Tremaine coaxingly. "I understand all this excitement has got everyone worked up a good deal; can we not discuss it after the ceremony?"

"If you can explain why you've been stealing money from the court," snapped Ellie, rounding on her. "I've spoken with Mistress Prudence, and I know you've been keeping back Andrina's payments!"

Something flickered in Lady Tremaine's eyes. "That is quite a bold accusation from such an imaginative child."

"Now, hold on a minute," said Henry, looking mildly seasick. "The only person who can properly answer all this is Andrina herself. So my first question is, where is she?"

Adella glanced at Ellie, who shrugged. There was silence. Then—

"Henry?"

Everyone turned. Standing at the other end of the aisle, looking rather shabby but filled with new hope, was Andrina, blinking back tears.

Henry's face lit up. "Andrina!"

An immense relief washed over everyone. Smiling, Andrina ran forward to the prince, who caught her up and swung her about, bringing a general round of applause from the onlookers. Around her neck, Adella felt the pendant give a slight tremor, as if something in it had broken.

Nonetheless, Lady Tremaine was determined for her final say. "But there is no proof that this is the same girl from the ball!"

Henry gave a bemused grin. "Well, if it's proof you want…" Taking the slipper from Ellie, he gently fitted it into Andrina's foot, earning more applause from the audience.

"Your Highness," Lady Tremaine continued to implore, "a common servant girl? I ask you." She looked to the king for support.

But the king was looking thoroughly pleased. "I don't care who she is or where she's from; if my son loves her and wishes to marry her, I will certainly allow for it!"

"And about time, too," the duke muttered, but his words were drowned out by the tremendous cheering from the crowd.

Henry turned to Andrina. "You really love me?"

"More than anything," Andrina answered, eyes shining as she drew closer. "And do you…?"

Henry put his face near to hers. "More than anything."

And the last rays of the sun dipped below the horizon.

With a cry, Andrina collapsed, a burning pain tearing at her insides. The slipper fell to the deck with a clatter, then melted to a pool of water where it lay.

Henry stared in confusion. "What…?"

"I'm sorry," said Andrina helplessly. Where her legs had once been, her fins had returned.

"You're too late!" cackled a loud, triumphant voice. Next moment, the king, the duke, and the priest leapt away in shock as several long, black tentacles began curling up from the side of the ship. The rest of the passengers screamed and jumped back as Ursula heaved her vast bulk onto the ship, laughing wildly. With incredible speed, she crawled across the deck to the altar.

"No!" Adella ran to protect her sister, but was pushed aside by one of the sinuous, black snakes as it whipped out.

"Adella, no!" Andrina held out an arm, defeated. "A deal's a deal."

"That a girl!" Still laughing maniacally, the sea witch lunged forward, seizing Andrina in one arm and dragging herself onto the rail with the other. "So long, lover boy!" she shot in Henry's direction before leaping over the edge.

"No!" Henry sprang for the rail, too late; with a splash, they had disappeared.


	21. Chapter Twenty One

_**Twenty One**_

The party was in complete disarray; everyone who had witnessed the events were badly shaken. The king and the duke were at a complete loss, two of the courtly ladies had fainted, the stock of brandy from the refreshments table had fallen very low, and most of the guests had demanded at least once to be put ashore immediately. By definition of a "party," therefore, it was in short a disaster.

At the top of the pavilion, Henry, Ellie, and Adella had rushed to the ship's edge, still staring after the witch. On the swiftly darkening horizon, clouds were gathering in thick masses; already, a low rumble shivered in the air.

Ellie was the first to state the obvious. "We have to do something!"

"This is all my fault," cried Adella, her face in her hands. "I should have just left things alone!"

The king hurried up to his son. "Son, what is going on here?"

"I'd love to know," Henry replied, already taking action. "Lower the boat!" he shouted to a nearby crewmember. As the boat was made ready, Henry stripped off his jacket, then tossed his sword and its scabbard into the boat.

Ellie turned to Adella. "Should we—" She broke off in surprise, for Adella had already cast aside her fine veil and wrenched the pendant and its chain from around her neck. As soon as it was off, she struggled out of the heavy wedding gown to reveal her own tail, which had reappeared.

The king started back. "What—"

Lady Tremaine made a haughty approach. "Your Highness, if I may, I suggest the first order of business be to return to shore immediately; I'd say all this has gone quite far enough!"

"You keep your nose out of this!" snapped the king, rounding on her. "After what I've heard tonight, I've grown highly suspicious of your involvement in this."

"But surely, your Majesty doesn't believe all this nonsense?" the lady persisted, unrelenting. "This situation seems to involve forces we cannot comprehend; it would be much wiser to abandon them to their own devices—"

"I'm going after her!" Henry called to his father, leaping into the boat. "I almost lost her once; I'm not going to lose her again!"

"I'm coming with you!" As Henry began to lower the boat, Adella clambered over the rail and plunged back into the sea.

"Try not to take any of this personally, darling," hummed Ursula, dragging Andrina along in tow. Her eel minions were close at hand, keeping just behind them. "You did come to me, after all, and I did my best to help you understand the risks."

Andrina was trying very hard not to cry, a process which was actually helped a great deal by her anger at the sea witch. "You still cheated," she snapped hotly, doing her best to get out of her human dress using just one arm. "I'd say I deserve a little exemption for that, wouldn't you think?"

Ursula chuckled, lifting the garments off and tossing them casually over her shoulder. "Why, my dear, why would I ever cheat you out of happiness? Your sister's involvement certainly wasn't my doing; how could I possibly have foreseen that?"

However unfortunate it was, Andrina saw the truth in Ursula's words; if it hadn't been for Adella, things might have gone much better. But feelings of personal betrayal she set aside for the present, saying stiffly, "Well, I don't know how she got involved with you, but you still set her up. Not all of the blame can fall on her."

"Oh, really." The witch made a pouting expression. "I hope you can learn to trust me a little more in the future. She came to me the same way you did; uninvited and unasked. Her decision, not mine."

"And are you going to do anything with her?" asked Andrina warily.

"Of course not," Ursula assured her dismissively. "We made our own bargain, entirely separate of yours. She held up her end faithfully enough; I have no more use for her."

That let Andrina relax a little, but only so much, given the current circumstances. "So, then, what happens to me?"

Ursula smiled nastily. "That we'll have to see about, won't we?"

Andrina looked away, fighting back the lump in her throat.

A deep, commanding voice brought them to a halt: "Ursula, stop!"

Ursula pulled up short, very nearly swimming into the sharp points of King Triton's trident. The king was glaring darkly at the witch; close behind him were Attina and Ariel, hovering fearfully close at their father's elbow.

"Why, King Triton!" greeted Ursula cheerfully, gingerly nudging the trident away. "How are you? And more of your lovely daughters." She wiggled her fingers at the other princesses.

"Let her go!" thundered the king, brandishing the trident a second time.

"Not a chance!" laughed Ursula, dragging Andrina to her side. "She's mine now. We made a deal, and the contract's legal by Atlantica law; completely unbreakable, even for you. So you hurry along your merry way; I have no reason to trouble you or the rest of your family, yet."

"You monster!" cried Ariel fiercely, lunging forward. "Leave her alone!"

"Ariel, don't!" Attina firmly grasped her arm, holding her back.

Ursula laughed spitefully. "Your Majesty certainly has a charming family. I'm simply thrilled I'll be keeping the company of one of its primary members."

King Triton met the eyes of his daughter, his face almost haggard with distress. Such an overwhelming sense of shame surged through Andrina at the whole mess she had caused that she dropped her gaze, fighting off tears.

"Well," said the witch snidely, "this has been fun, really, but got to run; got a schedule to keep up with, you know."

"Hey!"

Ursula looked up sharply. Adella hovered just overhead, hands clenched and tail thrashing, a rope looped over one shoulder. "Why not pick on someone your own size?"

Ursula let out a cackle. "Oh, please tell me you don't mean yourself! Contract or no, I'll—ah!" She suddenly clutched at her arm as something long and sharp rocketed through the water, drawing a long scratch as it just nicked her, letting out a thin wisp of dark blood. Above floated Henry, holding another harpoon at the ready.

"Henry, no!" Andrina reached out to him, but Ursula flung a tentacle about her waist and pinned her back.

The witch's eyes glittered as she gave Andrina a malicious smile. "Well, it seems he cares after all; what a pity it will cost him his life." Still grinning, she turned to her eels. "Sic him, boys!"

Henry swam for the surface for air, the eels hot in pursuit. They were almost upon him when there was a cry of, "Oh, no you don't!" Darting out of protection, Ariel sailed into the fray, smacking the nearest eel with her tail. Adella took care of the other, yanking on the end of its tail; in seconds, she let go with a squeal of "Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!", but the eels had been stalled just long enough to give Henry time to get a breath.

Meanwhile, Ursula had taken advantage of the distraction to seize the harpoon. "Say goodbye to your sweetheart," she sneered at Andrina, raising it high and aiming at Henry, who was on his way back down again.

"No!" Reaching as far as she could, Andrina grabbed a fistful of Ursula's hair and yanked back. The harpoon sailed too high, missing Henry and instead speared both the eels clean through in a fantastically tidy shish-kebab.

" _My_ _babies_!" Distraught, Ursula released Andrina and rushed to her fallen pets. Once loosed, Andrina darted out of reach and shot towards Henry, grabbing an arm and hauling him back to the surface.

"Hey!" Henry coughed and spluttered, slipping his arms around her. "I was supposed to be saving you!"

Andrina's heart melted, but she said hurriedly, "Please, you have to get as far away from here as you can!"

With his free arm, Henry caught the side of the boat drifting nearby. "I'm not leaving you."

There was a nearby splash as Adella surfaced, grabbing onto the boat and holding it steady as Henry clambered aboard. Andrina gave him a boost, then was surprised as he caught her up and pulled her in after him. Rain spattered the surface of the sea as growing waves rocked the little ship to and fro, the wind blowing foam over the sides.

Andrina curled against Henry as he pulled her close. "I'm sorry I lied to you; I'm sorry for all of this."

Smiling, Henry gently brushed her wet hair aside. "I can kind of see why you did; but I forgive you."

More hands were gripping the sides of the boat; in another moment, Attina and Ariel poked their heads over the edge. "Are you both okay?" asked Attina.

Andrina nodded. "We're fine, but what are you all doing here?"

"We came to help, of course," replied Ariel.

"When Adella got pulled into the deal with the sea witch," explained Attina, "we thought it was probably time to tell Daddy what was happening."

Andrina winced, biting her lip. "Was he angry?"

"I'm sure he'll have a few words later," acquiesced Attina, "but there'll be time to take care of that later."

The boat gave a lurch as something long and black looped over the bow; Adella, Attina, and Ariel were all knocked away from the ship. Before them, churning up the grey waters, the sea witch loomed out of the darkness, her face contorted with rage.

Henry felt about in the bottom of the boat, then pulled out his sword, brandishing it at Ursula. "Stay away from her!"

"Just try and stop me, you little fool!" Quick as the lightning flashing across the dark sky, Ursula whipped a tentacle around the prince's foot, and then another around the hand holding his sword. Two more gripped the sides of the boat, threatening to tear its timbers apart.

Andrina caught hold of Henry's shoulders, wrapping her arms around him and pulling with all her strength. Kicking out, Henry managed to get his boot off, but his sword was wrenched from his grasp. Laughing, the sea witch caught it up and held it aloft. "You messed with the wrong witch!" she bellowed, lightning glinting off the blade as she prepared to drive it home straight into the prince's heart.

There was a tremendous thunderclap as lightning split the sky again. For one instant, everything was illuminated in dazzling white; Ursula stood completely motionless, halfway in the little boat, the sword blazing like a torch in her hand. There was a hiss as the water around boiled and bubbled; the wood of the boat began to smoke as the tentacles gripping it were steamed. The sword melted down to a smoldering stump, molten metal dribbling in a silvery trail down along Ursula's upraised arm. Then, with a sigh like a deflating puffer fish, the witch slumped forward and collapsed, full onto the boat, tentacles jerking stiffly. Andrina pulled Henry back into the water as Ursula practically wrapped herself around the boat, capsizing it and sending it to the murky depths, leaving nothing but the acrid smell of burned sushi in the air.


	22. Chapter Twenty Two

_**Twenty Two**_

The storm was fierce, but relatively brief, ending with a light drizzle and some distant thunder. The party ship made it safely into the harbor without mishap, allowing the wet, disgruntled passengers to disembark. As soon as the royals came ashore, the king's first order of business was to rally up as many standing officers as were available and scour the shoreline for the prince to see what had become of him. He was soon located alive and well on the edge of the shore, kneeling in the shallows and talking with (of all things) merpeople.

"Are you okay?" was the first question Henry asked all around.

Attina gathered Ariel and Adella to her, like a mother duck counting up her chicks. "We're all right."

With a sigh of relief, Henry drew Andrina close once again. "That was so close."

"I'm so sorry," Andrina mumbled into his shoulder, fighting hard with herself to keep her emotions under control, and slowly losing. "I never meant to put you through this."

There was a rushing noise as the sea king rose out of the surf, his expression unreadable. Andrina suddenly felt a great deal smaller, and shrank down.

"I take it that this is your father?" inquired Henry quietly, sensing the change.

"Yes," Andrina affirmed. _I am in so much trouble_.

The mergirls gazed apprehensively at their father, waiting for his response. Before he gave one, however, with a rush and a clatter, a company of guards on horseback rode onto the scene, Henry's father rising in their midst. Having limited experience with such creatures, Attina started back with a cry of alarm, while Ariel stared in fascination at the tossing manes and prancing hooves.

The king jumped down from his horse (nearly breaking his ankle in the process) and marched forward. "Son, what is going on here? Are these more of your—" He gestured vaguely at the other sea people.

"Ah…" Henry stood to introduce the two parties. "Father, this is…"

"Triton, King of Atlantica," said King Triton stiffly.

Henry turned a rather peculiar color, immediately giving a respectful bow. "Please forgive me, your Majesty; I was unaware of that. It's um, nice to meet you."

"Yeah, sorry; forgot to mention that," Andrina whispered sheepishly.

The king also bowed, in a slightly more prepared manner. "Greetings, your Majesty; I am the king of this area; the land part of it."

King Triton gave an acknowledging nod, then turned. "Come along, girls; we're going home."

Andrina stiffened, reflexively gripping Henry's hand more firmly. "You should go," Henry advised gently. "We can figure this out in the morning. It's been a long day," he added with a small smile.

Andrina could not hold back tears this time. "I don't know if I'll be back in the morning."

"I'll wait for you." Henry kissed her forehead, drawing her in a warm embrace. "Ten o'clock sound good?"

"Not soon enough," sniffed Andrina thickly. "How about eight?"

Henry chuckled, running a hand through her hair. "Perfect."

The journey back to Atlantica was completely silent; all the sisters were intently watching their father, ready for whatever storm could break at any moment. The tension would almost have been worse itself, if not for the fatigue that outmatched it. Andrina's fins felt like lead as she dragged herself on, eyes heavy; she tried to put out of her mind any idea of what her father might say or do this time. Attina lent her some comfort, giving her hand a squeeze.

Though it wasn't very late, the whole kingdom was quiet as they made their way through; the king had laid all searches to rest once he'd been told where his daughter was, so they were undisturbed as they at last entered the palace throne room.

King Triton sat down on his throne, laying his trident across his lap, and drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. "Well, girls, start from the beginning."

Attina nodded to Andrina, who came forward with bowed head. "I went to the sea witch; I'm the one who brought her into this. I… She cast a spell that made me human. That's where I've been all this time; on land."

The king's expression didn't change; the next person he turned to was Adella. "And how did you come into all this?"

Adella gulped, fighting to speak clearly. "I-I saw her go, so I followed her. To the sea witch's lair, I mean. And then I got scared, and I went back, and Ursula caught me… and struck a deal with me, too." She was crying freely by this point, and continued, "And she made me wear an enchanted necklace that put a curse on Henry—I mean, the human prince, and—"

"And that's when we followed her, and then came to tell you," interrupted Ariel hastily, earning an annoyed glare from Attina. "So that's what happened," she finished meekly.

Triton gazed long and hard at all of them, then gave a sigh. "Well, I think that's enough excitement for one night; go to bed, girls. We'll sort this out in the morning."

The sisters glanced at one another, mildly puzzled, then turned and headed out. Last in line, Andrina turned to make a last parting remark: "That lightning was awfully strong for such a short, little storm."

The king's knuckles tightened slightly on the trident shaft. "Very fortunate for you and your human prince that it was."

Once in the hall, Adella managed to calm down enough to say, "I'm so sorry, Andrina. Please forgive me."

Andrina looked at her wearily. "Of course I forgive you."

Attina put her hands on Andrina's shoulders. "You okay, sweetie?"

Andrina heaved a sigh. "Yeah. Just tired."

The king sat on his throne in deep thought, one hand massaging his brow. All the other servants had gone to bed, including Sebastian, his chief advisor on difficult matters. One other, however, was awake, still lingering by the door. "Daddy?"

Triton glanced up as Ariel swam to his side. "Ariel, it's very late—"

"I know." She laid a hand on his arm, leaning her head on his shoulder. "You're not too mad at us, are you?"

"Oh, Ariel." As he had often done when the girls were small, the king scooped her up and cradled her in his lap. "I love you all far too much to stay angry all the time."

Ariel burrowed her face into his beard, hugging him tight. "Andrina loves Henry, too. And he loves her." She peered up into his eyes, smiling slightly. "And he did help save her life; and he's still a human and everything. Maybe they're not all that bad?"

Triton gave her a curious look, then gently kissed her forehead. "Off to bed, now. We'll settle that in the morning."

Night passed silently over both land and sea. When morning came, the clouds were stained a fluffy pink, streaked with orange and purple; gulls were wheeling to and fro over the shore, pecking up tasty bits of fried octopus drifting in the surf. Hardly had the day broken when Andrina sat on a rock near the sand, waiting fervently for Henry.

It wasn't half an hour before the prince arrived on horseback; leaping deftly from horse to shore, he discarded his boots and waded out to meet her. "Hey, there," he greeted merrily. "What happened to eight?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Grinning broadly, Andrina helped him onto the rock. "The fastest fish gets the kelp, as we say."

"We always say, 'the early bird gets the worm,'" Henry told her, sitting next to her.

Andrina wrinkled her nose. "Gross."

Henry chuckled, putting an arm round her. "Well, what brings the early fish to talk to the early bird?"

Andrina flashed a playful smile. "Maybe I just can't stay away from you."

Henry returned the grin, his fingers entwining with hers. "And is that enough to be okay committing to living with me all the time every day, even on the boring, regular days and maybe also on the not-so-great ones?"

Andrina's smile grew saddened as she glanced down at her tail. "You know it is."

The sun slowly rose as they sat together, unaware of King Triton floating a few yards away, Adella at his side, gazing on in silence.

"She really does love him, doesn't she?" the king commented at length.

Adella rested her head on her father's shoulder. "Well, you know, everyone is free to make their own decisions. You and Mom made yours; don't let it surprise you when we make ours."

Triton smiled, shaking his head. "Then I guess there's just one problem left."

Adella glanced up. "And what's that?"

"How much I'm going to miss her."

With a sweeping gesture, the king raised his trident and laid it on the surface of the water. The sea glittered brilliantly, shimmering in a glowing stream right up to the rock. Andrina began to feel a warm, tingling sensation all through her just as a great swarm of sparkling droplets surrounded her. Henry started up in alarm while Adella gave Triton a tremendous hug. Merely seconds later, Andrina stepped out from the dazzling cloud on two legs once more, clad in a dress that glistened like the sun on the sea, along with a matching set of shining slippers.

Henry gasped, smiling almost as brightly as the new raiment. Springing forward, he caught Andrina up and spun her round. Andrina was still staring dumbfounded at the change, and was caught off guard by the prince's response. As a result, they overbalanced and fell off the rock into the water. They emerged, laughing and soaking wet, but unharmed.

Rising, Andrina ran to her father and flung her arms around him, her face wet with more than just sea spray. "Oh, Daddy… I don't deserve this."

Her father looked at her, smiling broadly. "Everyone deserves true love."

Eyes swimming, Adella pulled the prince's glittering ring off her finger. "I bet you'll be needing this."

Henry took the ring, then knelt in the surf, holding it up. "Well then, _Princess_ Andrina, will you please finally do me the honor of marrying me?"

Andrina laughed, letting him slip the band over her finger. "Very well, Prince Charming; I accept."

A week later, the official wedding for Prince Charming and his princess was held just off shore. The barge, decked out much as it had been before, set sail at noon, and was host to a much larger audience than the previous attempt, with humans on board and merfolk watching from the sea. The Tremaines had declined from attending, on the claim that travel by boat made Drizella terribly ill, and Anastasia had contracted a bad head cold from having wet hair too long; needless to say, their company was not missed. To make up for their absence, Mistress Prudence had taken charge of the floral arrangements to ensure every necessary detail was perfect.

Ellie was given special invitation to be the maid of honor, along with Andrina's sisters as bridesmaids. This was done (more or less successfully) by setting up a sort of scaffolding on the side of the ship, enabling the rest of the princesses to sit together by the rail. It wasn't long before Ellie had made fast friends with Ariel and Arista, each promising to keep in touch as frequently as possible.

The ceremony was splendid, conducted with especial magnificence as not seen before; the human king and the king of the sea shook hands in a new agreement of peace for both kingdoms, and Prince Henry and Princess Andrina officially shared their first kiss. The merpeople were then treated to the new phenomenon of the bouquet toss, which was won by a rather startled but pleased Adella. The cake was also a new experience for the sea dwellers, and was met with mixed results. But overall, all the guests had a fine time of things.

At last, the time came for King Triton and his people to return to Atlantica. Andrina gave a last embrace to all her sisters. Last of all, she came to her father, who sat on his own magically conjured waterspout.

Hiding her tears no longer, Andrina buried herself in the warmth of her father's embrace. "I love you, Daddy."

The king held her close, gently kissing her forehead. "And I do and will always love you."

As the wedding ship sailed serenely onward, King Triton sent up his own special gift to the newlyweds: a magnificent rainbow arcing high into the sky, as a promise of good faith uniting two divided worlds. Standing beneath, Henry and Andrina waved to the mermaids until all had vanished once more beneath the sea.

"Well, darling," sighed Henry at last, grinning at his wife, "what should we do now?"

"Anything we like." Andrina gave his nose a tweak. "It's a brand new adventure right here."

"I suppose I should warn you," said Henry casually, "human life might be a little different than you expect."

Standing on her toes, Andrina pulled herself up to Henry's height. "It's never too early to learn new things. There's still so much about human life I haven't tried yet."

"Wonderful!" cried Henry, sweeping her up in his arms. "So, where shall we start?"

 _The End_


End file.
